LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  01EGO 


/ 


o 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY, 


AND 


KINDERGARTEN    GUIDE, 


lUitlj  iflustc  for  tlje 


Miis.  HORACIj  MANN, 

AND      L 

ELIZABETH  P.   PEABODY. 


BOSTON: 
T.     O.     H.     P.     BURNHAM. 

NEW  YOKK:  0.  S.  FELT,  36  WALKER  ST. 

1863. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  y«ir  1863,  by 

T.    O.    H.    P.    BURKHAM, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


RIVERSIDE,   CAMBRIDGE: 
STEREOTYPED  AND  PRINTED  BY  H.  0.  HOUGHTON. 


PREFACE. 


IT  is  in  answer  to  a  demand  now  become  very  general  in 
this  community,  that  I  bring  forward  an  American  Kinder- 
garten Guide.  Kindergartens  are  springing  up  in  all  our 
cities.  The  French  and  English  guides,  and  the  Journals 
of  The  New  Education,  published  in  Germany  and  France, 
are  expensive  to  import ;  and,  besides,  I  think  the  selections 
I  take  from  these  sources,  modified  by  my  own  views,  make 
a  book  more  suitable  for  American  use  than  a  foreign  work 
can  be. 

I  have  persuaded  my  sister  to  give  me  her  letters  on  the 
Moral  Culture  of  Infancy,  for  an  Appendix  to  my  work, 
because  moral  culture  is  a  twin  object  with  physical  culture 
in  a  Kindergarten ;  and  the  letters  express  the  very  spirit 
of  Froebel,  whose  primary  object  was  to  give  a  moral  and 
religious  cast  to  the  intelligence  of  healthy  children. 

The  letters  were  written  in  the  midst  of  the  practical 
experiments  they  describe,  in  correspondence  with  Mrs. 
Lowell's  "  Letters  on  the  Theory  of  Teaching,"  published  in 
1841.  They  could  not  be  published  at  the  same  time,  be- 
cause they  were  so  full  of  personal  details,  that  the  children 
spoken  of  would  have  been  easily  identified.  After  this 
lapse  of  time  identification  will  not  be  easy.  The  circum- 
stances of  Mrs.  Lowell's  letters  were  imaginary,  and  they 
make  a  noble  manual  for  governesses.  But  in  both  cases 
the  letters  were  written  for  their  authors'  mutual  under- 


iv  PREFACE. 

standing  and  improvement,  with  no  view  to  publication  ;  and 
are  all  the  more  genuine  and  valuable  on  that  account. 

I  have  reduced  the  price  of  my  Guide,  by  leaving  out  the 
plates  and  directions  for  the  use  of  Froebel's  Gifts  ;  be- 
cause, without  the  Gifts,  the  directions  are  useless,  and  with 
them,  superfluous.  Two  of  these  Gifts,  intended  for  the 
nursery,  have  already  been  published  in  Boston,  with  the 
manuals  for  direction.  And  the  other  four,  which  are  indis- 
pensable for  the  Kindergarten,  will  be  published  in  one  box 
with  the  manual  of  plates,  as  soon  as  the  public  shall  de- 
mand it  by  specific  orders.  It  would  be  an  admirable  in- 
vestment of  capital  for  some  one  to  get  up  this ;  also  a  box 
of  materials  for  pea-work,  and  one  for  weaving  the  little 
paper  mats  :  in  short,  all  the  materials  for  the  manipulations 
of  the  Kindergarten. 

E.  P.  P. 

15  PINCKNEY  STREET,  BOSTON. 


POSTSCRIPT. 

I  HATE  been  urged  to  publish  these  letters,  written  twenty 
years  ago,  as  an  appendix  to  a  Kindergarten  Guide,  because 
the  school  herein  described  was  a  groping  attempt  at  some- 
thing of  the  same  kind,  and  had  left  very  pleasant  memories 
in  the  hearts  of  the  children  referred  to  —  now  no  longer  chil- 
dren, but  some  of  them  men  and  women  nobly  and  beauti- 
fully acting  their  parts  on  earth  as  parents ;  and  others,  — 
having  died  martyrs'  deaths  for  human  freedom  in  the  desolat- 
ing war  that  now  ravages  our  beloved  country,  —  angels  in 
heaven. 

If  an  inborn  love  of  children  and  of  school-keeping  are 
qualifications  for  judging  of  the  best  means  of  educating 
them,  I  may  claim  to  have  known  something  of  the  theory 
and  practice  best  adapted  to  that  end.  My  object  was  to 


PREFACE.  V 

put  them  in  possession  of  all  their  faculties.  Many  im- 
provements in  methods,  and  many  facilities  in  means,  have 
been  added  to  the  resources  of  teachers  since  these  letters 
were  written.  Physical  training  is  felt  to  be  of  the  greatest 
importance,  in  preference  to  the  ancient  mode  of  shutting 
children  up  many  hours  in  close  rooms,  and  repressing  all 
natural  and  joyous  life.  The  principle  is  discovered  of 
educating  by  directing  the  activities.  Hence  the  Kinder- 
garten. 

M.  M. 
CONCORD,  MASS.,  1863. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  PAGE 

I.   KINDERGARTEN  —  WHAT  is  IT?    .        .        .        .9 
II.  ROOMS,  ETC. 25 

III.  Music 28 

IV.  PLAYS,  GYMNASTICS,  AND  DANCING  ...         34 
V.   BLOCKS,  STICKS,  AND  PEAS 39 

VI.   MANIPULATIONS 45 

VII.  MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  EXERCISES       .        .-  .52 

VIII.    OBJECT  LESSONS          .        .        .        .        .        .  58 

IX.   GEOMETRY .  .     65 

X.   ARITHMETIC          .        .        .....  72 

XL  READING .'".,.        .        .  .75 

XII.   GRAMMAR  AND  LANGUAGES       ....  98 

XIII.  GEOGRAPHY      .        . 103 

XIV.  THE  SECRET  OF  POWER 104 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY 105 


AMERICAN    KINDERGARTEN. 

CHAPTER  I. 

* 

KINDERGARTEN WHAT   IS    IT  ?  * 

WHAT  is  a  Kindergarten  ?  I  will  reply  by  negatives.  It 
is  not  the  old-fashioned  infant-school.  That  was  a  narrow 
institution,  comparatively ;  the  object  being  (I  do  not  speak 
of  Pestalozzi's  own,  but  that  which  we  have  had  in  this 
country  and  in  England)  to  take  the  children  of  poor  labor- 
ers, and  keep  them  out  of  the  fire  and  the  streets,  while  their 
mothers  went  to  their  necessary  labor.  Very  good  things, 
indeed,  in  their  way.  Their  principle  of  discipline  was  to 
circumvent  the  wills  of  children,  in  every  way  that  would 
enable  their  teachers  to  keep  them  within  bounds,  and  quiet. 
It  was  certainly  better  that  they  should  learn  to  sing  by  rote 
the  Creed  and  the  "  definitions  "  of  scientific  terms,  and  such 
like,  than  to  learn  the  profanity  and  obscenity  of  the  streets, 
which  was  the  alternative.  But  no  mother  who  wished  for 
anything  which  might  be  called  the  development  of  her  child 
would  think  of  putting  it  into  an  infant-school,  especially  if 
she  lived  in  the  country,  amid 

"  the  mighty  sum 
Of  things  forever  speaking," 

where  any  "  old  grey  stone  "  would  altogether  surpass,  as  a 
stand-point,  the  bench  of  the  highest  class  of  an  infant-school. 
In  short,  they  did  not  state  the  problem  of  infant  culture 
with  any  breadth,  and  accomplished  nothing  of  general  inter- 
est on  the  subject. 

*  First  published  in  Atlantic  Monthly,  Nov.  1862. 
1* 


10  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

Neither  is  the  primary  public  school  a  Kindergarten,  though 
it  is  but  justice  to  the  capabilities  of  that  praiseworthy  insti- 
tution, so  important  in  default  of  a  better,  to  say  that  in  one 
of  them,  at  the  North  End  of  Boston,  an  enterprising  and 
genial  teacher  has  introduced  one  feature  of  Froebel's  plan. 
She  has  actually  given  to  each  of  her  little  children  a  box 
of  playthings,  wherewith  to  amuse  itself  according  to  its  own 
sweet  will,  at  all  times  when  not  under  direct  instruction, — 
necessarily,  in  her  case,  on  condition  of  its  being  perfectly 
quiet ;  and  this  one  thing  makes  this  primary  school  the  best 
one  in  Boston,  both  as  respects  the  attainments  of  the  schol- 
ars and  their  good  behavior. 

Kindergarten  means  a  garden  of  children,  and  Froebel, 
the  inventor  of  it,  or  rather,  as  he  would  prefer  to  express 
it,  the  discoverer  of  the  method  of  Nature,  meant  to  symbolize 
by  the  name  the  spirit  and  plan  of  treatment.  How  does 
the  gardener  treat  his  plants  ?  He  studies  their  individual 
natures,  and  puts  them  into  such  circumstances  of  soil  and 
atmosphere  as  enable  them  to  grow,  flower,  and  bring  forth 
fruit,  —  also  to  renew  their  manifestation  year  after  year. 
He  does  not  expect  to  succeed  unless  he  learns  all  their 
wants,  and  the  circumstances  in  which  these  wants  will  be 
supplied,  and  all  their  possibilities  of  beauty  and  use,  and  the 
means  of  giving  them  opportunity  to  be  perfected.  On  the 
other  hand,  while  he  knows  that  they  must  not  be  forced 
against  their  individual  natures,  he  does  not  leave  them  to 
grow  wild,  but  prunes  redundancies,  removes  destructive 
worms  and  bugs  from  their  leaves  and  stems,  and  weeds 
from  their  vicinity,  —  carefully  watching  to  learn  what  pecu- 
liar insects  affect  what  particular  plants,  and  how  the  former 
can  be  destroyed  without  injuring  the  vitality  of  the  latter. 
After  all  the  most  careful  gardener  can  do,  he  knows  that 
the  form  of  the  plant  is  predetermined  in  the  germ  or  seed, 
and  that  the  inward  tendency  must  concur  with  a  multitude 
of  influences,  the  most  powerful  and  subtile  of  which  is  re- 
moved in  place  ninety-five  millions  of  miles  away. 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  11 

In  the  Kindergarten,  children  are  treated  on  an  analogous 
plan.  It  presupposes  gardeners  of  the  mind,  who  are  quite 
aware  that  they  have  as  little  power  to  override  the  charac- 
teristic individuality  of  a  child,  or  to  predetermine  this  char- 
acteristic, as  the  gardener  of  plants  to  say  that  a  lily  shall 
be  a  rose.  But  notwithstanding  this  limitation  on  one  side, 
and  the  necessity  for  a  concurrence  of  the  Spirit  on  the  other, 
—  which  is  more  independent  of  our  modification  than  the 
remote  sun,  —  yet  they  must  Teel  responsible,  after  all,  for 
the  perfection  of  the  development,  in  so  far  as  removing 
every  impediment,  preserving  every  condition,  and  pruning 
every  redundance. 

This  analogy  of  education  to  the  gardener's  art  is  so  strik- 
ing, both  as  regards  what  we  can  and  what  we  cannot  do, 
that  Froebel  has  put  every  educator  into  a  most  suggestive 
Normal  School,  by  the  very  word  which  he  has  given  to  his 
seminary,  —  Kindergarten. 

If  every  school-teacher  in  the  land  had  a  garden  of  flowers 
and  fruits  to  cultivate,  it  could  hardly  fail  that  he  would  learn 
to  be  wise  in  his  vocation.  For  suitable  preparation,  the 
first,  second,  and  third  thing  is,  to 

"  Come  forth  into  the  light  of  things, 
Let  Nature  be  your  teacher." 

The  "  new  education,"  as  the  French  call  it,  begins  with 
children  in  the  mother's  arms.  Froebel  had  the  nurses  bring 
to  his  establishment,  in  Hamburg,  children  who  could  not 
talk,  who  were  not  more  than  three  months  old,  and  trained 
the  nurses  to  work  on  his  principles  and  by  his  methods. 
This  will  hardly  be  done  in  this  country,  at  least  at  present ; 
but  to  supply  the  place  of  such  a  class,  a  lady  of  Boston  has 
prepared  and  published,  under  copyright,  Froebel's  First 
Gift,  consisting  of  six  soft  balls  of  the  three  primary  and 
the  three  secondary  colors,  which  are  sold  in  a  box,  with  a 
little  manual  for  mothers,  in  which  the  true  principle  and 
plan  of  tending  babies,  so  as  not  to  rasp  their  nerves,  but  to 
amuse  without  wearying  them,  is  very  happily  suggested. 


12  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

There  is  no  mother  or  nurse  who  would  not  be  assisted  by 
this  little  manual  essentially.  As  it  says  in  the  beginning,  — 
"  Tending  babies  is  an  art,  and  every  art  is  founded  on  a 
science  of  observations  ;  for  love  is  not  wisdom,  but  love  must 
act  according  to  wisdom  in  order  to  succeed.  Mothers  and 
nurses,  however  tender  and  kind-hearted,  may,  and  oftenest 
do,  weary  and  vex  the  nerves  of  children,  in  well-meant 
efforts  to  amuse  them,  and  weary  themselves  the  while. 
Froebel's  exercises,  founded  on  the  observations  of  an  intel- 
ligent sensibility,  are  intended  to  amuse  without  wearying, 
to  educate  without  vexing." 

Froebel's  Second  Gift  for  children,  adapted  to  the  age  from 
one  to  two  or  three  years,  with  another  little  book  of  direc- 
tions, has  also  been  published  by  the  same  lady,  and  is  per- 
haps a  still  greater  boon  to  every  nursery ;  for  this  is  the 
age  when  many  a  child's  temper  is  ruined,  and  the  inclina- 
tion of  the  twig  wrongly  bent,  through  sheer  want  of  resource 
and  idea,  on  the  part  of  nurses  and  mothers. 

But  it  is  to  the  next  age  —  from  three  years  old  and  up- 
wards —  that  the  Kindergarten  becomes  the  desideratum,  if 
not  a  necessity.  The  isolated  home,  made  into  a  flower-vase 
by  the  application  of  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  Gifts 
above  mentioned,  may  do  for  babies.  But  every  mother  and 
nurse  knows  how  hard  it  is  to  meet  the  demands  of  a  child 
too  young  to  be  taught  to  read,  but  whose  opening  intelli- 
gence and  irrepressible  bodily  activity  are  so  hard  to  be  met 
by  an  adult,  however  genial  and  active.  Children  generally 
take  the  temper  of  their  whole  lives  from  this  period  of  their 
existence.  Then  "  the  twig  is  bent,"  either  towards  that 
habit  of  self-defence  which  is  an  ever-renewing  cause  of 
selfishness,  or  to  the  sun  of  love-in-exercise,  which  is  the 
exhaustless  source  of  goodness  and  beauty.* 

The  indispensable  thing  now  is  a  sufficient  society  of  chil- 

*  If  some  large  dealer  would  get  up  the  other  four  Block  Gifts  in  one 
box,  with  plates  of  direction  taken  from  Rong^'s  Guide,  there  would  be  a 
large  sale,  for  these  blocks  are  indispensable  (in  the  Kindergarten)  to  each 
child. 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  13 

dren.  It  is  only  in  the  society  of  equals  that  the  social  in- 
stinct can  be  gratified,  and  come  into  equilibrium  with  the 
instinct  of  self-preservation.  Self-love,  and  love  of  others, 
are  equally  natural ;  and  before  reason  is  developed,  and  the 
proper  spiritual  life  begin?,  sweet  and  beautiful  childhood 
may  bloom  out  and  imparadise  our  mortal  life.  Let  us  only 
give  the  social  instinct  of  children  its  fair  chance.  For  this 
purpose,  a  few  will  not  do.  The  children  of  one  family  are 
not  enough,  and  do  not  come  along  fast  enough.  A  large 
company  should  be  gathered  out  of  many  families.  It  will 
be  found  that  the  little  things  are  at  once  taken  out  of  them- 
selves, and  become  interested  in  each  other.  In  the  variety, 
affinities  develop  themselves  very  prettily,  and  the  rough 
points  of  rampant  individualities  wear  off.  We  have  seen 
a  highly-gifted  child,  who,  at  home,  was  —  to  use  a  vulgar, 
but  expressive  word  —  pesky  and  odious,  with  the  exact- 
ing demands  of  a  powerful,  but  untrained  mind  and  heart, 
become  "  sweet  as  roses  "  spontaneously,  amidst  the  rebound 
of  a  large,  well-ordered,  and  carefully  watched  child-society. 
Anxious  mothers  have  brought  us  children,  with  a  thousand 
deprecations  and  explanations  of  their  characters,  as  if  they 
thought  we  were  going  to  find  them  little  monsters,  which 
their  motherly  hearts  were  persuaded  they  were  not,  though 
they  behaved  like  little  sanchos  at  home,  —  and,  behold,  they 
were  as  harmonious,  from  the  very  beginning,  as  if  they  had 
undergone  the  subduing  influence  of  a  lifetime.  We  are 
quite  sure  that  children  begin  with  loving  others  quite  as  in- 
tensely as  they  love  themselves,  —  forgetting  themselves  in 
their  love  of  others,  —  if  they  only  have  as  fair  a  chance 
of  being  benevolent  and  self-sacrificing  as  of  being  selfish. 
Sympathy  is  as  much  a  natural  instinct  as  self-love,  and  no 
more  or  less  innocent,  in  a  moral  point  of  view.  Either 
principle  alone  makes  an  ugly  and  depraved  form  of  natural 
character.  Balanced,  they  give  the  element  of  happiness, 
and  the  conditions  of  spiritual  goodness  and  truth,  — making 
children  fit  temples  for  the  Holy  Ghost  to  dwell  in. 


14  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

A  Kindergarten,  then,  is  children  in  society,  —  a  common- 
wealth or  republic  of  children,  —  whose  laws  are  all  part 
and  parcel  of  the  Higher  Law  alone.  It  may  be  contrasted, 
in  every  particular,  with  the  old-fashioned  school,  which  is 
an  absolute  monarchy,  where  the  children  are  subjected  to 
a  lower  expediency,  having  for  its  prime  end  quietness,  or 
such  order  as  has  "  reigned  in  Warsaw  "  since  1831. 

But  let  us  not  be  misunderstood.  "We  are  not  of  those 
who  think  that  children,  in  any  condition  whatever,  will  in- 
evitably develop  into  beauty  and  goodness.  Human  nature 
tends  to  revolve  in  a  vicious  circle,  around  the  idiosyncrasy ; 
and  children  must  have  over  them,  in  the  person  of  a  wise 
and  careful  teacher,  a  power  which  shall  deal  with  them  as 
God  deals  with  the  mature,  presenting  the  claims  of  sym- 
pathy and  truth  whenever  they  presumptuously  or  uncon- 
sciously fall  into  selfishness.  We  have  the  best  conditions 
of  moral  culture  in  a  company  large  enough  for  the  exacting 
disposition  oT  the  solitary  child  to  be  balanced  by  the  claims 
made  by  others  on  the  common  stock  of  enjoyment,  —  there 
being  a  reasonable  oversight  of  older  persons,  wide-awake  to 
anticipate,  prevent,  and  adjust  the  rival  pretensions  which 
must  always  arise  where  there  are  finite  beings  with  infinite 
desires,  while  Reason,  whose  proper  object  is  God,  is  yet 
undeveloped. 

Let  the  teacher  always  take  for  granted  that  the  law  of 
love  is  quick  within,  whatever  are  appearances,  and  the 
better  self  will  generally  respond.  In  proportion  as  the 
child  is  young  and  unsophisticated,  will  be  the  certainty  of 
the  response  to  a  teacher  of  simple  faith  : 

"  There  are  who  ask  not  if  thine  eye 

Be  on  them,  —  who,  in  love  and  truth, 
Where  no  misgiving  is,  rely 
Upon  the  genial  sense  of  youth. 

"  And  blest  are  they  who  in  the  main 
This  faith  even  now  do  entertain, 
Live  in  the  spirit  of  this  creed, 
Yet  find  another  strength,  according  to  their  need." 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  15 

Such  are  the  natural  Kindergartners,  who  prevent  disor- 
der by  employing  and  entertaining  children,  so  that  they  are 
kept  in  an  accommodating  and  loving  mood  by  never  being 
thrown  on  self-defence,  —  and  when  selfishness  is  aroused, 
who  check  it  by  an  appeal  to  sympathy,  or  Conscience,  which 
is  the  presentiment  of  Reason,  a  fore-feeling  of  moral  order, 
for  whose  culture  material  order  is  indispensable. 

But  order  must  be  kept  by  the  child,  not  only  unconsci- 
ously, but  intentionally.  Order  is  the  child  of  reason,  and 
in  turn  cultivates  the  intellectual  principle.  To  bring  out 
order  on  the  physical  plane,  the  Kindergarten  makes  it  a 
serious  purpose  to  organize  romping,  and  set  it  to  music, 
which  cultivates  the  physical  nature  also.  Romping  is  the 
ecstasy  of  the  body,  and  we  shall  find  that  in  proportion  as 
children  tend  to  be  violent  they  are  vigorous  in  body.  There 
is  always  morbid  weakness  of  some  kind  where  there  is  no 
instinct  for  hard  play  ;  and  it  begins  to  be  the  common  sense 
that  energetic  physical  activity  must  not  be  repressed,  but 
favored.  Some  plan  of  play  prevents  the  little  creatures 
from  hurting  each  other,  and  fancy  naturally  furnishes  the 
plan,  —  the  mind  unfolding  itself  in  fancies,  which  are  easily 
quickened  and  led  in  harmless  directions  by  an  adult  of  any 
resource.  Those  who  have  not  imagination  themselves  must 
seek  the  aid  of  the  Kindergarten  guides,  where  will  be  found 
arranged  to  music  the  labors  of  the  peasant,  and  cooper,  and 
sawyer,  the  wind-mill,  the  water-mill,  the  weather-vane,  the 
clock,  the  pigeon-house,  the  hares,  the  bees,  and  the  cuckoo. 
Children  delight  to  personate  animals,  and  a  fine  genius  could 
not  better  employ  itself  than  in  inventing  a  great  many  more 
plays,  setting  them  to  rhythmical  words,  describing  what  is 
to  be  done.  Every  variety  of  bodily  exercise  might  be  made 
and  kept  within  the  bounds  of  order  and  beauty  by  plays 
involving  the  motions  of  different  animals  and  machines  of 
industry.  Kindergarten  plays  are  easy  intellectual  exer- 
cises ;  for  to  do  anything  whatever  with  a  thought  before- 
hand, develops  the  mind  or  quickens  the  intelligence ;  and 


16  KINDERGARTEN"  GUIDE. 

thought  of  this  kind  does  not  tax  intellect,  or  check  physical 
development,  which  last  must  never  be  sacrificed  in  the  pro- 
cess of  education. 

There  are  enough  instances  of  marvellous  acquisition  in 
infancy  to  show  that  imbibing  with  the  mind  is  as  natural  as 
with  the  body,  if  suitable  beverage  is  put  to  the  lips  ;  but  in 
most  cases  the  mind's  power  is  balanced  by  instincts  of  body, 
which  should  have  priority,  if  they  cannot  certainly  be  in 
full  harmony.  The  mind  can  afford  to  wait  for  the  maturing 
of  the  body,  for  it  survives  the  body ;  while  the  body  cannot 
afford  to  wait  for  the  mind,  but  is  irretrievably  stunted,  if  the 
nervous  energy  is  not  free  to  stimulate. its  special  organs,  at 
least  equally  with  those  of  the  mind. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  intention  to  sacrifice  the  culture  of 
either  mind  or  body,  but  to  harmonize  them.  They  can  and 
ought  to  grow  together.  They  mutually  help  each  other. 

Dr.  Dio  Lewis's  "  Free  Exercises  "  are  suitable  to  the  Kin- 
dergarten, and  may  be  taken  in  short  lessons  of  a  quarter  of 
an  hour,  or  even  of  ten  minutes.  Children  are  fond  of  pre- 
cision also,  and  it  will  be  found  that  they  like  the  teaching 
best,  when  they  are  made  to  do  the  exercises  exactly  right, 
and  in  perfect  time  to  the  music. 

But  the  regular  gymnastics  and  the  romping  plays  must 
be  alternated  with  quiet  employments,  of  course,  but  still 
active.  They  will  sing  at  their  plays  by  rote  ;  and  also 
should  be  taught  other  gongs  by  rote.  But  there  can  be 
introduced  a  regular  drill  on  the  scale,  which  should  never 
last  more  than  ten  minutes  at  a  time.  This,  if  well  man- 
aged, will  cultivate  their  ears  and  voices,  so  that  in  the 
course  of  a  year  they  will  become  very  expert  in  telling 
any  note  struck,  if  not  in  striking  it.  The  ear  is  cultivated 
sooner  than  the  voice,  and  they  may  be  taught  to  name  the 
octave  as  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  while  their  imaginations  are 
impressed  by  drawing  a  ladder  of  eight  rounds  on  the  black- 
board, to  signify  that  the  voice  rises  by  regular  gradation. 
This  will  fix  their  attention,  and  their  interest  will  not  flag, 
if  the  teacher  has  any  tact. 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  17 

Slates  and  pencils  are  indispensable  in  a  Kindergarten 
from  the  first.  One  side  of  a  slate  can  be  ruled  with  a 
sharp  point  in  small  squares,  and  if  their  fancy  is  interested 
by  telling  them  to  make  a  fish-net,  they  will  carefully  make 
their  pencils  follow  these  lines,  —  which  makes  a  first  exer- 
cise in  drawing.  Their  little  fingers  are  so  unmanageable 
that  at  first  they  will  not  be  able  to  make  straight  lines  even 
•with  this  help.  For  variety,  little  patterns  can  be  given 
them,  drawn  on  the  blackboard,  (or  on  paper  similarly  ruled,) 
of  picture-frames  and  patterns  for  carpets.  When  they  can 
make  squares  well,  they  can  be  shown  how  to  cross  them 
with  diagonals,  and  make  circles  inside  of  the  squares,  and 
outside  of  them,  and  encouraged  to  draw  on  the  other  side 
of  the  slate  from  their  own  fancy,  or  from  objects.  Entire 
sympathy  and  no  destructive  criticism  should  meet  every 
effort.  Self-confidence  is  the  first  requisite  for  success.  If 
they  think  they  have  had  success,  it  is  indispensable  that  it 
should  be  echoed  from  without.  Of  course  there  will  be 
poor  perspective  ;  even  Schmidt's  method  of  perspective 
cajnnot  be  introduced  to  very  young  children.  A  natural 
talent  for  perspective  sometimes  shows  itself,  which  by-and- 
by  can  be  perfected  by  Schmidt's  method.* 

But  little  children  will  not  draw  long  at  a  time.  Nice 
manipulation,  which  is  important,  can  be  taught,  and  the  eye 
for  form  cultivated,  by  drawing  for  them  birds  and  letting 
them  prick  the 'lines.  It  will  enchant  them  to  have  some- 
thing pretty  to  carry  home  now  and  then.  Perforated  board 
can  also  be  used  to  teach  them  the  use  of  a  needle  and  thread. 
They  will  like  to  make  the  outlines  of  ships  and  steamboats, 
birds,  &c.,  which  can  be  drawn  for  them  with  a  lead*  pencil 
on  the  board  by  the  teachers.  "Weaving  strips  of  colored 
card-board  into  papers  cut  for  them  is  another  enchanting 
amusement,  and  can  be  made  subservient  to  teaching  them 
the  harmonies  of  colors.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  season, 
when  they  have  an  accumulation  of  pricked  birds,  or  have 

*  See  Common  School  Journal  for  1842-3. 


18  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

learned  to  draw  them,  they  can  be  allowed  colors  to  paint 
them  in  a  rough  manner.  It  is,  perhaps,  worth  while  to  say, 
that,  in  teaching  children  to  draw  on  their  slates,  it  is  better 
for  the  teacher  to  draw  at  the  moment  on  the  blackboard 
than  to  give  them  patterns  of  birds,  utensils,  etc.,  because 
then  the  children  will  see  how  to  begin  and  proceed,  and 
are  not  discouraged  by  the  mechanical  perfection  of  their 
model. 

Drawing  ought  always  rather  to  precede  reading  and  writ- 
ing, as  the  minute  appreciation  of  forms  is  the  proper  prep- 
aration for  these.  But  reading  and  writing  may  come  into 
Kindergarten  exercises  at  once,  if  reading  is  taught  by  the 
phonic  method,  (which  saves  all  perplexity  to  the  child's 
brain,)  and  accompanied  by  printing  on  the  slate.  It  then 
alternates  with  other  things,  as  one  of  the  amusements.  We 
will  describe  how  we  have  seen  it  taught.  The  class  sat 
before  a  blackboard,  with  slates  and  pencils.  The  teacher 
said, — "  Now  let  us  make  all  the  sounds  that  we  can  with  the 
lips :  First,  put  the  lip's  gently  together  and  sound  m,"  (not 
em,)  —  which  they  all  did.  Then  she  said,  —  "  Now  let  us 
draw  it  on  the  blackboard,  —  three  short  straight  marks  by 
the  side  of  each  other,  and  join  them  on  the  top,  —  that  is 
m.  What  is  it  ?  "  They  sounded  m,  and  made  three  marks 
and  joined  them  on  the  top,  with  more  or  less  success.  The 
teacher  said,  — "  Now  put  your  lips  close  together  and  say 
p."  (This  is  mute  and  to  be  whispered.)  They  all  imitated 
the  motion  made.  She  said,  —  "  Now  let  us  write  it ;  one 
straight  mark,  then  the  upper  lip  puffed  out  at  the  top." 
M  and  p,  to  be  written  and  distinguished,  are  perhaps  enough 
for  one  lesson,  which  should  not  reach  half  an  hour  in  length. 
At  the  next  lesson  these  were  repeated  again.  Then  the 
teacher  said,  —  "  Now  put  your  lips  together  and  make  the 
same  motion  as  you  did  to  say  p  ;  but  make  a  little  more 
bound,  and  it  will  be  b"  (which  is  sonorous).  "You  must 
write  it  differently  from  p  ;  —  you  must  make  a  short  mark 
and  put  the  under  lip  on."  "  Now  put  your  teeth  on  your 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  19 

under  lip  and  say  f."  (She  gave  the  power.)  "  You  must 
write  it  by  making  a  short  straight  mark  make  a  bow,  and 
then  cross  it  with  a  little  mark  across  the  middle."  "  Now 
fix  your  lips  in  the  same  manner  and  sound  a  little,  and  you 
will  make  v.  Write  it  by  making  two  little  marks  meet  at 
the  bottom." 

This  last  letter  was  made  a  separate  lesson  of,  and  the 
other  lessons  were  reviewed.  The  teacher  then  said,  — 
u  Now  you  have  learned  some  letters,  —  all  the  lip-letters," 
—  making  them  over,  and  asking  what  each  was.  She 
afterwards  added  w,  —  giving  its  power  and  form,  and  put 
it  with  the  lip-letters.  At  the  next  lesson  they  were  told  to 
make  the  letters  with  their  lips,  and  she  wrote  them  down 
on  the  board,  and  then  said,  — "  Now  we  will  make  some 
tooth-letters.  Put  your  teeth  together  and  say  t."  (She 
gave  the  power,  and  showed  them  how  to  write  it.)  "  Now 
put  your  teeth  together  and  make  a  sound  and  it  will  be  d." 
"  That  is  written  just  like  b,  only  we  put  the  lip  behind." 
"  Now  put  your  teeth  together  and  hiss,  and  then  make  this 
little  crooked  snake  (s).  Then  fix  your  teeth  in  the  same 
manner  and  buzz  like  a  bee.  You  write  z  pointed  this  way." 
"  Now  put  your  teeth  together  and  say  j,  written  with  a  dot." 
At  the  next  lesson  the  throat-letters  were  given ;  first  the 
hard  guttural  was  sounded,  and  they  were  told  three  ways  to 
write  it,  c,  k,  q,  distinguished  as  round,  high,  and  with  a  tail. 
C  was  not  sounded  see,  but  c  and  k  and  q  alike  (ik).  An- 
other lesson  gave  them  the  soft  guttural  g,  but  did  not  sound 
it  jee  ;  and  the  aspirate  h,  but  did  not  call  it  aitch. 

Another  lesson  gave  the  vowels,  (or  voice-letters,  as  she 
called  them,)  and  it  was  made  lively  by  her  writing  after- 
wards all  of  them  in  one  word,  mieaou,  and  calling  it  the 
cat's  song.  It  took  from  a  week  to  ten  days  to  teach  these 
letters,  one  lesson  a  day  of  about  twenty  minutes.  Then 
came  words :  mamma,  papa,  puss,  pussy,  etc.  The  vowels 
always  sounded  as  in  Italian,  and  i  and  y  were  distinguish- 
ed as  with  a  dot  and  with  a  tail. 


20  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

At  first  only  one  word  was  the  lesson,  and  the  letters 
were  reviewed  in  their  divisions  of  lip-letters,  throat-letters, 
tooth-letters,  voice-letters.  The  latter  were  sounded  the 
Italian  way,  as  in  the  words  arm,  egg,  ink,  oak,  and  Peru. 
This  teacher  had  Miss  Peabody's  "  First  Nursery  Reading- 
Book,"  and  when  she  had  taught  the  class  to  make  all  the 
words  on  the  first  page  of  it,  she  gave  each  of  the  children 
the  book,  and  told  them  to  find  first  one  word  and  then  an- 
other. It  was  a  great  pleasure  to  them  to  be  told  that  now 
they  could  read.  They  were  encouraged  to  copy  the  words 
out  of  the  book  upon  their  slates. 

The  "  First  Nursery  Reading-Book  "  has  in  it  no  words 
that  have  exceptions  in  their  spelling  to  the  sounds  given  to 
the  children  as  the  powers  of  the  letters.  Nor  has  it  any 
diphthong  or  combinations  of  letters,  such  as  oi,  ou,  ch,  sh,  th. 
After  they  could  read  it  at  sight,  they  were  told  that  all 
words  were  not  so  regular,  and  their  attention  was  called  to 
the  initial  sounds  of  thin,  shin,  and  chin,  and  to  the  proper 
diphthongs,  ou,  oi,  and  au,  and  they  wrote  words  considering 
these  as  additional  characters.  Then  "  Mother  Goose,"  was 
put  into  their  hands,  and  they  were  made  to  read  by  rote 
the  songs  they  already  knew  by  heart,  and  to  copy  them. 
It  was  a  great  entertainment  to  find  the  queer  words,  and 
these  were  made  the  nucleus  of  groups  of  similar  words 
which  were  written  on  the  blackboard  and  copied  on  their 
slates. 

We  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  give  in  detail  this 
method  of  teaching  to  read,  because  it  is  the  most  entertain- 
ing to  children  to  be  taught  so,  and  because  many  successful 
instances  of  the  pursuit  of  this  plan  have  come  under  our 
observation  ;  and  one  advantage  of  it  has  been,  that  the 
children  so  taught,  though  never  going  through  the  common 
spelling-lessons,  have  uniformly  exhibited  a  rare  exactness 
in  orthography. 

In  going  through  this  process,  the  children  learn  to  print 
very  nicely,  and  generally  can  do  so  sooner  than  they  can 


.    KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  21 

read.  It  is  a  small  matter  afterwards  to  teach  them  to  turn 
the  print  into  script.  They  should  be  taught  to  write  with 
the  lead  pencil  before  the  pen,  whose  nse  need  not  come 
into  the  Kindergarten. 

But  we  must  not  omit  one  of  the  most  important  exercises 
for  children  in  the  Kindergarten,  —  that  of  block-building. 
Froebel  has  four  Gifts  of  blocks.  Ronge's  "  Kindergarten 
Guide  "  has  pages  of  royal  octavo  filled  with  engraved  forms, 
that  can  be  made  by  variously  laying  eight  little  cube?,  and 
sixteen  little  planes  two  inches  long,  one  inch  broad,  and  one- 
half  an  inch  thick.  Chairs,  tables,  stables,  sofas,  garden-seats, 
and  innumerable  forms  of  symmetry,  make  an  immense  re- 
source for  children,  who  also  should  be  led  to  invent  other 
forms  and  imitate  other  objects.  So  quick  are  the  fancies 
of  children,  that  the  blocks  will  serve  also  as  symbols  of 
everything  in  Nature  and  imagination.  We  have  seen  an 
ingenious  teacher  assemble  a  class  of  children  around  her 
large  table,  to  each  of  whom  she  had  given  the  blocks.  The 
first  thing  was  to  count  them,  a  great  process  of  arithmetic 
to  most  of  them.  Then  she  made  something  and  explained 
it.  It  was  perhaps  a  light-house,  —  and  some  blocks  would 
represent  rocks  near  it  to  be  avoided,  and  ships  sailing  in  the 
ocean ;  or  perhaps  it  was  a  hen-coop,  with  chickens  inside, 
and  a  fox  prowling  about  outside,  and  a  boy  who  was  going 
to  catch  the  fox  and  save  the  fowls.  Then  she  told  each 
child  to  make  something,  and  when  it  was  done  hold  up  a 
hand.  The  first  one  she  asked  to  explain,  and  then  went 
round  the  class.  If  one  began  to  speak  before  another  had 
ended,  she  would  hold  up  her  finger  and  say,  —  "  It  is  not 
your  turn."  In  the  course  of  the  winter,  she  taught,  over 
these  blocks,  a  great  deal  about  the  habits  of  animals.  She 
studied  natural  history  in  order  to  be  perfectly  accurate  in 
her  symbolic  representation  of  the  habitation  of  each  animal, 
and  their  enemies  were  also  represented  by  blocks.  The 
children  imitated  these ;  and  when  they  drew  upon  their 
imaginations  for  facts,  and  made  fantastic  creations,  she 


22  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.   • 

would  say,  —  "  Those,  I  think,  were  fairy  hens  "  (or  what- 
ever) ;  for  it  was  her  principle  to  accept  everything,  and 
thus  tempt  out  their  invention.  The  great  value  of  this  ex- 
ercise is  to  get  them  into  the  habit  of  representing  something 
they  have  thought  by  an  outward  symbol.  The  explanations 
they  are  always  eager  to  give,  teach  them  to  express  them- 
selves in  words.  Full  scope  is  given  to  invention,  whether 
in  the  direction  of  possibilities  or  of  the  impossibilities  in 
which  children's  imaginations  revel,  —  in  either  case  the 
child  being  trained  to  the  habit  of  embodiment  of  its  thought. 

Froebel  thought  it  very  desirable  to  have  a  garden  where 
the  children  could  cultivate  flowers.  He  had  one  which  he 
divided  into  lots  for  the  several  children,  reserving  a  portion 
for  his  own  share  in  which  they  could  assist  him.  He  thought 
it  the  happiest  mode  of  calling  their  attention  to  the  invisible 
God,  whose  power  must  be  waited  upon,  after  the  conditions 
for  growth  are  carefully  arranged  according  to  laws  which 
they  must  observe.  Where  a  garden  is  impossible,  a  flower- 
pot with  a  plant  in  it,  for  each  child  to  take  care  of,  would 
do  very  well. 

But  the  best  way  to  cultivate  a  sense  of  the  presence  of 
God  is  to  draw  the  attention  to  the  conscience,  which  is  very 
active  in  children,  and  which  seems  to  them  (as  we  all  can 
testify  from  our  own  remembrance)  another  than  themselves, 
and  yet  themselves.  We  have  heard  a  person  say,  that  in 
her  childhood  she  was  puzzled  to  know  which  was  herself, 
the  voice  of  her  inclination  or  of  her  conscience,  for  they 
were  palpably  two ;  and  what  a  joyous  thing  it  was  when 
she  was  first  convinced  that  one  was  the  Spirit  of  God,  whom 
unlucky  teaching  had  previously  embodied  in  a  form  of  ter- 
ror on  a  distant  judgment-seat.  Children  are  consecrated  as 
soon  as  they  get  the  spiritual  idea,  and  it  may  be  so  presented 
that  it  shall  make  them  happy  as  well  as  true.  But  the  adult 
who  enters  into  such  conversation  with  a  child  must  be 
careful  not  to  shock  and  profane,  instead  of  nurturing  the 
soul.  It  is  possible  to  avoid  both  discouraging  and  flattering 


KIXDERGAETEX  GUIDE.  23 

views,  and  to  give  the  most  tender  and  elevating  associa- 
tions. 

But  children  require  not  only  an  alternation  of  physical 
and  mental  amusements,  but  some  instruction  to  be  passively 
received.  They  delight  in  stories,  and  a  wise  teacher  can 
make  this  subservient  to  the  highest  uses  by  reading  beauti- 
ful creations  of  the  imagination.  Not  only  such  household- 
stories  as  "  Sanford  and  Merton,"  Mrs.  Farrar's  "  Robinson 
Crusoe,"  and  Salzmann's  "  Elements  of  Morality,"  but  sym- 
bolization  like  the  heroes  of  Asgard,  the  legends  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  classic  and  chivalric  tales,  the  legend  of  Saint 
George,  and  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  can  in  the  mouth  of  a 
skilful  reader  be  made  subservient  to  moral  culture.  The 
reading  sessions  should  not  exceed  ten  or  fifteen  minutes. 

Anything  of  the  nature  of  scientific  teaching  should  be 
done  by  presenting  objects  for  examination  and  investigation.* 
Flowers  and  insects,  shells,  etc.,  are  easily  handled.  The 
observations  should  be  drawn  out  of  the  children,  not  made  to 
them,  except  as  corrections  of  their  mistakes.  Experiments 
with  the  prism,  and  in  crystallization  and  transformation,  are 
useful  and  desirable  to  awaken  taste  for  the  sciences  of  Na- 
ture. In  short,  the  Kindergarten  should  give  the  beginnings 
of  everything.  "  What  is  well  begun  is  half  done." 

We  must  say  a  word  about  the  locality  and  circumstances 
of  a  Kindergarten.  There  is  published  in  Lausanne,  France, 
a  newspaper  devoted  to  the  interests  of  this  mode  of  educa- 
tion, in  whose  early  numbers  is  described  a  Kindergarten ; 
which  see^  to  be  of  the  nature  of  a  boarding-school ;  at 
least,  the  children  are  there  all  day.  Each  child  has  a  gar- 
den, and  there  is  one  besides  where  they  work  in  common. 
There  are  accommodations  for  keeping  animals,  and  minia- 
ture tools  to  do  mechanical  labor  of  various  kinds.  In  short, 
it  is  a  child's  world.  But  in  this  country,  especially  in  New 
England,  parents  would  not  consent  to  be  so  much  separated 
from  their  children,  and  a  few  hours  of  Kindergarten  in  the 
*  Calkin's  Object  Lessons  will  give  hints. 


24  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

early  part  of  the  day  will  serve  an  excellent  purpose, —  using 
-up  the  effervescent  activity  of  children,  who  may  healthily 
be  left  to  themselves  the  rest  of  the  time,  to  play  or  rest, 
comparatively  unwatched. 

Two  rooms  are  indispensable,  if  there  is  any  variety  of 
age.  It  is  desirable  that  one  should  be  sequestrated  to  the 
quiet  employments.  A  pianoforte  is  desirable,  to  lead  the 
singing,  and  accompany  the  plays,  gymnastics,  frequent  march- 
ings, and  dancing,  when  that  is  taught,  —  which  it  should  be. 
But  a  hand-organ  which  plays  fourteen  tunes  will  help  to 
supply  the  want  of  a  piano,  and  a  guitar  in  the  hands  of  a 
ready  teacher  will  do  better  than  nothing. 

Sometimes  a  genial  mother  and  daughters  might  have  a 
Kindergarten,  and  devote  themselves  and  the  house  to  it, 
especially  if  they  live  in  one  of  our  beautiful  country-towns  . 
or  cities.  The  habit,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  of  sending 
children  to  school  in  an  omnibus,  hired  to  go  round  the  city 
and  pick  them  up,  suggests  the  possibility  of  a  Kindergarten 
in  one  of  those  beautiful  residences  up  in  town,  where  there 
is  a  garden  before  or  behind  the  house.  It  is  impossible  to 
keep  Kindergarten  by  the  way.  It  must  be  the  main  business 
of  those  who  undertake  it ;  for  it  is  necessary  that  every  in- 
dividual child  should  be  borne,  as  it  were,  on  the  heart  of 
the  gardeners,  in  order  that  it  be  inspired  with  order,  truth, 
and  goodness.  To  develop  a  child  from  within  outwards,  we 
must  plunge  ourselves  into  its  peculiarity  of  imagination  and 
feeling.  No  one  person  could  possibly  endure  such  absorp- 
tion of  life  in  labor  unrelieved,  and  consequently  |nro  or  three 
should  unite  in  the  undertaking  in  order  to  be  able  to  relieve 
each  other  from  the  enormous  strain  on  life.  The  compen- 
sations are,  however,  great.  The  charm  of  the  various  indi- 
viduality, and  of  the  refreshing  presence  of  conscience  yet 
unprofaned,  is  greater  than  can  be  found  elsewhere  in  this 
work-day  world.  Those  were  not  idle  words  which  came 
from  the  lips  of  Wisdom  Incarnate :  —  "  Their  angels  do 
always  behold  the  face  of  my  Father : "  "  Of  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven." 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  25 


CHAPTER  II. 

ROOMS,   ETC. 

• 

I  HAVE  made  an  article,  which  I  published  in  the  "  Atlan- 
tic Monthly"  of  November,  1862,  my  first  chapter,  because 
I  cannot,  in  any  better  way,  answer  the  general  question,  — 
What  is  a  Kindergarten  ?  I  will  now  proceed  to  make  a 
Guide  for  the  conduct  of  a  Kindergarten  ;  in  which  I  shall 
freely  make  use  of  what  Madame  Ronge  has  said  in  her 
"  English  Kindergarten,"  and  Madame  Marienholtz  in  her 
"  Jardin  des  Enfans ; "  but  I  shall  not  confine  myself  to 
them,  for  an  American  Kindergarten  necessarily  has  its 
peculiarities. 

In  the  first  place,  we  must  think  of  the  accommodations. 
These  are  not  to  be  in  the  open  air,  as  has  been  supposed 
by  many,  through  misapprehension  of  the  use  of  the  word 
Kindergarten.  But  it  is  desirable  that  there  should  be  a 
good  play-ground  attached  to  the  rooms  ;  and  Froebel 
thought  it  of  very  important  religious  influence  that  every 
child  should  have  earth  to  cultivate,  if  it  were  only  a  foot 
square. 

Two  rooms  are  indispensable,  and  if  possible  there  should 
be  three,  all  of  good  size,  with  good  light  and  air  :  one  room, 
for  music  and  plays,  gymnastics,  dancing,  &c. ;  another  for 
the  quieter  mechanical  employments,  —  pricking,  weaving, 
sewing,  moulding,  folding,  paper-cutting,  sticklaying,  and 
block -building  ;  and  still  another  for  drawing,  writing,  object- 
teaching,  and  learning  to  read.  It  is  desirable  that  every 
child  should  have  a  box,  if  not  a  little  desk,  in  order  to  learn 
2 


26  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

to  keep  things  in  order.  When  this  cannot  be  done,  the 
teachers  must  so  arrange  matters,  as  to  have  everything 
ready  for  every  change ;  that  no  time  may  be  lost  and  no 
confusion  arise.  In  my  own  Kindergarten,  I  arrange  before- 
hand the  chairs  in  the  play-room  in  a  solid  square,  into  which 
the.  children  march  at  the  commencement  of  the  exercises. 
Sitting  in  them,  they  sing  their  morning  prayer  or  hymn, 
hear  the  reading,  and  take  a  singing  lesson  on  the  scale. 
Then  they  rise,  and,  taking  up  their  chairs,  march  into  the 
other  room  for  their  reading  lessons,  which  are  always  in 
two  classes,  sometimes  in  three.  They  bring  their  chairs 
back  again  for  luncheon,  and  then  take  them  out  for  another 
lesson  ;  for  in  this  room  they  have  gymnastics,  dancing,  and 
the  play,  and  need  a  clear  space  for  all.  They  come  back 
with  their  chairs,  at  the  close  of  the  exercises,  to  sing  songs 
together  before  they  disperse.  Two  of  my  rooms  are  car- 
peted. The  other  is  smooth-floored  for  dancing,  playing, 
and  gymnastics.  And,  for  the  convenience  of  the  gymnastics, 
it  is  well  to  paint,  at  convenient  distances,  little  feet  in  the  first 
position,  as  Dr.  Dio  Lewis  has  done  in  his  gymnastic  hall. 

When  Kindergarten  accommodations  can  be  built  ex- 
pressly, I  would  suggest  that  there  should  be  a  house  with 
glass  walls  and  partitions,  at  least  above  the  wainscoting ; 
and  that  the  wainscoting  should  be  rather  high  and  painted 
black,  so  that  every  child  might  have  a  piece  of  the  black- 
board ;  for  it  is  easier  for  a  child  to  draw  with  a  chalk  on  a 
blackboard  than  with  a  slate  and  pencil. 

A  house  of  glass,  on  the  plan  of  the  crystal  palace,  would 
be  no  more  expensive  than  if  built  of  brick.  It  would  se- 
cure the  light  and  sunshine,  and  make  it  easy  for  the  su- 
perintendent to  overlook  the  whole.  It  should  be  equably 
warmed  throughout.  My  own  Kindergarten  is  not  in  a  glass 
house,  but  is  the  lower  floor  of  a  house  which  has'  three 
rooms,  with  a  hall  between  two  of  the  rooms ;  a  large  china 
closet  which  I  use  for  the  children's  dressing,  as  well  as  to 
store  many  things ;  and  beyond  the  third  room,  a  bathing 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  27 

room,  with  every  convenience.  Rooms,  hall,  closet,  and  bath- 
ing room  have  all  an  east-south  aspect,  and  are  amply  lighted. 
The  room  between  (he  china  closet  and  bathing  room  is  longer 
than  it  is  wide,  and  has  blackboard  painted  on  three  sides  of 
it,  so  that  each  child  has  a  piece  of  blackboard. 

It  is  possible  to  keep  a  Kindergarten  in  two  rooms,  but 
not  possible  to  keep  it  in  one,  if  it  is  of  any  desirable  size, 
or  there  is  any  variety  of  age  in  the  children.  A  large  play- 
ground and  some  garden  is  desirable.  I  am  so  fortunate  as 
to  have  these  in  my  house  in  Boston. 

There  must  be  a  musical  instrument  in  every  Kindergar- 
ten, of  course.  The  only  books  which  the  children  use  are 
those  in  which  they  learn  to  read.  Everything  else  must  be 
taught  by  symbols,  objects,  and  pictures,  explained  conver- 
sationally. 

One  of  the  rooms  it  would  be  well  to  provide  with  flat 
box-desks,  in  which  can  be  kept  all  the  materials  which  each 
child  uses,  —  slates  and  pencils,  blocks,  sticks,  weaving  and 
sewing  materials,  —  and  the  children  should  be  required  to 
keep  these  in  order. 

In  my  own  Kindergarten  I  provide  all  the  materials  for 
their  work  and  instruction,  thus  securing  uniformity ;  and 
it  is  better  to  do  so  always,  and  to  charge  a  price  covering 
the  expense.  It  should  be  understood,  from  the  first,  that 
Kindergarten  education  is  not  cheap. 

As  a  Kindergarten  requires  several  persons  to  keep  it 
properly,  a  genial  family,  consisting  of  a  mother  and  daugh- 
ters, of  various  accomplishments,  might  devote  their  whole 
house  to  it,  preparing  for  the  writing  and  drawing  one  large 
room  with  blackboards  all  round,  whose  area  could  be  used 
for  the  playing,  gymnastics,  and  dancing. 

When  this  new  culture  shall  be  appreciated  for  its  whole 
worth,  it  will  not  be  deemed  extravagant  for  a  whole  family 
thus  to  devote  their  house,  as  well  as  their  time,  to  make  a 
Kindergarten  the  temporary  home  of  a  large  company  of 
children. 


28  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 


CHAPTER  III. 

MUSIC. 

THE  first  requisite  to  the  Kindergarten  is  Music.  The 
voice  of  melody  commands  the  will  of  the  child,  or  rather 
disarms  the  caprice,  which  is  the  principle  of  disorder.  Two 
hymns  are  given  in  this  Guide  with  which  to  commence 
school,  —  one  being  the  Lord's  Prayer,  set  to  cheerful  music. 

But  there  should  be  regular  scale  singing,  and  if  con- 
ducted by  a  teacher  of  tact,  a  ten  minutes  lesson  may  be 
given  every  day,  and  the  interest  be  kept  undiminished. 
The  first  lesson  should  be  preceded  by  the  teacher's  drawing 
on  the  blackboard  a  ladder  of  eight  steps,  and  then  saying  to 
the  pupils,  "  Now  listen  to  my  voice,  and  see  how  it  goes 
up  these  steps."  She  then  sings  the  eight  notes  very  clear- 
ly, pointing  to  each  step  of  the  ladder ;  and  runs  her  voice, 
with  equal  distinctness,  down  the  descending  scale.  The 
children  can  then  be  asked  to  accompany  the  teacher  in  go- 
ing up  and  down  the  ladder,  singing  the  numbers  1,  2,  3,  4, 
5,  6,  7,  8,  instead  of  do,  re,  mi.  There  will  doubtless  be 
enough  discords  to  be  palpable  to  all  ears,  and  these  can  be 
spoken  of  by  the  teacher,  and  a  proposition  made  that  every 
one  who  thinks  he  can  go  up  and  down  the  ladder  alone, 
shall  hold  up  a  hand.  Some  may  be  able  to  do  so,  but  a 
majority  will  fail.  Some  will  not  try  at  all. 

The  teacher  can  then  say,  "Now  I  am  going  to  teach 
you  all  to  do  it,  —  one  step  at  a  time.  Let  us  all  sing  one." 
The  piano  is  struck,  and  teacher  and  pupils  all  sing  one. 
"  Now  let  us  go  up  a  step,  —  one,  two."  Let  this  be  repeated 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  29 

several  times.  Then  stop,  and  say,  "  Now  I  am  going  to 
strike  one  of  these  notes  and  see  if  you  know  it."  Strike 
two,  and  ask,  "  What  is  that,  1  or  2  ?  "  There  may  be  dif- 
ference of  opinion  ;  in  which  case,  ask  all  to  "  hold  up  their 
hands  who  think  it  is  2,  and  then  all  who  think  it  is  1." 
Tell  which  is  right,  and  say,  "  Now  let  us  all  sing  2."  Then 
say,  "Now  let  us  go  down  that  step, —  2,  1  ;  and  now  up 
again,  — 1,2;  now  all  hold  up  their  hands  who  can  sing 
1,  2,  1  ?"  Select  one  after  another  to  sing  it  alone  with  the 
piano,  and  after  each  has  tried,  let  all  sing  with  the  teacher 
1,  2,  1,  before  another  is  asked  to  sing  it.  Then  let  all  sing 
1,  1,  1  ;  2,  2,  2  ;  1,  1,  1.  Go  on  in  this  way  till  all  the 
eight  notes  are  learned.  They  will  be  able  to  tell  these 
notes,  when  struck  upon  the  piano,  much  sooner  than  they 
will  be  able  to  strike  them  with  their  voices.  And  other 
exercises,  every  day  calling  upon  them  to  name  notes  struck, 
—  at  first  one  note,  afterwards  combinations  of  notes. 

The  following  exercises  were  given  in  my  Kindergarten 
in  one  year,  which  resulted  in  nearly  all  the  children  being 
able  to  sing  them  alone,  and  tell  any  notes  struck. 

1st.—  1  21;  11,  2  2,  1  1 ;  1  1  1  1,  2  2  2  2,  1111, 
212,  &c. 

2d.  — 1  23,  321;  1331,  121,  232,  321. 

3d.—  1  2  3  4  5,  5  4  3  2  1.    1  3  5,  5  3  1,  1  5  5  1. 

4th.—  1  23456;  654321;  16,  61;  1356. 

5th.  — 1234567,  7654321;  135  8,  8531. 

6th.  — 12345678,  87564321;  1358. 

This  exercise  can  be  varied  by  repeating  each  note  one 
two,  three,  or  four  times. 

7th.  — 1  1  2,  2  2  3,  3  3  4,  4  4  5,  5  5  6,  7  7  8,  8  7  6  5 
4321. 

8th.  — 1  12,  334,  556,  778;87654321. 

9th.—  1  2,  1  2  1 ;  2  3,  23  2;34,  343;45,  45  6; 
5  6,  5  6  7 ;  6  7,  6  7  8  ;  8,  7,  6,  5,  4,  3,  2,  1. 

10th.  —  1  1, 2  2, 1 ;  2  2,  3  3,  2  ;  3  3,  4  4,  3  ;  4  4,  5  5,  4 ;  &c. 

llth.  — 13;  24;35;46;57;  68;  8,  6;  7, 5;  6,4; 
5,  3  ;  4,  2  ;  3, 1. 


30  KIXDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

12th.  — 1  358,  8531;1468,  8641;  1881. 

13th.  —  1  1,  3  3  ;  5  5,  8  8  ;  8  8,  7  7,  6  6,  5  5,  4  4,  3  3, 
2  2,  1  1. 

14th.  — 12321;  23432;  34543;  45654; 
56765;  67876;  787654321. 

15th.  — 121233;232344;343455;454566; 
565677;676788;8888;7777;6666; 
5555;  4444;3333;  2222;  1111;  18;81. 

Besides  these  ten  minutes  on  the  scale,  (which  should  not 
occur  next  to  singing  the  hymn,  but  after  some  other  exer- 
cise has  intervened,)  it  is  an  excellent  plan  to  let  the  Kin- 
dergarten close  with  singing  songs  by  rote.  The  words 
should  be  simple,  such  as  "  The  Cat  and  the  Sparrow," 
and  other  pretty  melodies  to  be  found  in  the  Pestalozzian 
Singing  Book  and  the  many  compilations  prepared  for 
children.  For  it  is  well  for  the  child  not  to  go  out  of  the 
natural  octave,  and  to  have  the  words  of  songs  adapted  to 
the  childish  capacity.  Besides  this  singing,  the  piano-forte 
should  be  used  to  play  marches,  as  the  children  go  from  one 
room  to  another  to  their  different  exercises.  "  Order  is 
Heaven's  first  law,"  and  music  is  the  heavenly  voice  of 
order,  which  disposes  to  gentleness  and  regularity  of  mo- 
tion. As  all  the  exercises  change  every  quarter  of  an  hour 
at  least,  this  brings  the  marching  to  music  as  often  ;  and  it 
will  last  one  or  two  minutes,  sometimes  longer.  The  chil- 
dren get  accustomed  to  rise  at  the  sound  of  the  piano,  and 
it  will  be  easy  to  make  them  silent  during  the  music,  espe- 
cially if  it  is  hinted  to  them  that  soldiers  always  march 
in  silence.  Besides  this,  the  piano  is  necessary  for  the 
gymnastics,  and  for  the  fanciful  plays,  which  are  always  to 
be  accompanied  by  descriptive  songs. 

A  few  songs  and  plays  are  given  in  this  Guide,  which,  if 
taken  in  turn,  will  recur  not  oftener  than  once  in  ten  days. 
We  subjoin  a  description  of  the  plays. 

I  will  finish  this  chapter  by  a  translation  from  a  notice  of 
"  Enseignement  Musical,  d'apres  Froebel,  par  Fred.  Stern, 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  31 

prix,  2  francs :  En  vente  a  Bruxelles,  rue  de  Vienne,  16,  et 
a  Paris,  rue  Fosses  St.  Victor,  35."  "  A  man  to  be  com- 
plete, should  be  master  of  linear  and  musical  expression. 
Most  of  our  education  aims  only  to  give  him  lingual  expres- 
sion ;  and  drawing  and  music  are  considered  accomplish- 
ments merely  !  The  divine  art  which  enables  us  to  repro- 
duce the  human  figure  illuminated  with  the  expression  of 
the  spirit,  a  mere  accomplishment !  *  Music,  the  melodious 
expression  of  our  most  intimate  thoughts,  the  colored  reflec- 
tion of  the  heart,  —  a  mere  accomplishment ! 

"  Life  is  sad,  monotonous,  earthy,  without  the  arts.  If  a 
woman  of  the  middle  and  higher  classes  especially,  does  not 
daily  realize  the  higher  life  by  knowledge  of  truth  and  love 
of  beauty,  what  shall  save  her  from  the  frivolity  and  ennui 
that  gnaws  away  the  heart,  tarnishes  the  soul,  and  brings 
misfortune  to  the  fireside?  Every  woman  should  be  an 
artist,  and  make  artists  of  her  children,  if  she  would  do  a 
woman's  whole  duty.  Especially  should  the  mother  teach 
her  children  to  improvise  music,  which  can  be  done  by  pur- 
suing this  method. 

"  He  commences  by  the  study  of  the  three  sounds  constitut- 
ing the  major  triad,  and,  as  in  the  model  gamut,  or  gamut  of 
do,  there  are  three  similar  triads,  three  perfect  major  chords, 
do-mi-sol,  fa-la-do,  and  sol-si-re,  we  begin  naturally  with  the 
central  chord,  do-mi-sol,  which  we  name  the  master  chord; 
for,  in  the  model  gamut  of  do,  it  is  around  this,  as  around  a 
centre,  that  the  two  other  triads  balance  themselves,  the  lower 
fifth,  fal-la-do,  and  the  higher  fifth,  sol-si-re.  We  can  show 
the  unity  of  plan  between  these  three  established  notes,  in 
all  the  possible  changes.  We  thus  introduce  a  fine  variety 

*  There  is  no  excuse  for  its  being  so  considered  in  Boston,  now  that  Dr. 
Rimmer,  the  remarkable  sculptor  of  the  Falling  Gladiator,  has  founded 
the  true  method  of  teaching  to  draw  the  human  figure.  It  is  indeed  a 
method  which  it  is  not  probable  any  person  of  less  profound  knowledge 
of  the  human  figure  than  himself,  (a  practical  surgeon  as  well  as  artist,) 
together  with  genius  less  bold  and  original,  can  conduct  as  he  does;  un- 
less he  shall  train  such  teachers. 


32  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

into  the  exercises,  which  permits  the  repetition  of  the  same 
sounds  and  intervals,  without  causing  fatigue  or  weariness  to 
the  child. 

"  Scarcely  have  our  pupils  learned  to  sing  or  to  repeat  alone, 
at  will,  the  three  sounds  do-mi-sol,  when  we  have  them  mark 
them  with  pencils  on  the  staff  (key  of  sol)  ;  only  as  in  the 
unity  of  tone  there  are  yet  the  two  other  perfect  chords,  fa- 
la-do  and  sol-si-re,  we  let  them  write  the  three  notes  of  the 
central  chord  with  a  red  pencil,  and  reserve  the  three  sounds 
of  the  chord  on  the  left,  (the  lower  or  subdominant,)  to  be 
written  with  a  yellow  pencil,  and  the  chord  on  the  right, 
(higher  or  dominant,)  with  a  blue  pencil.  On  the  other  hand, 
for  the  appellative  chords  (dissonant,)  made  by  the  combina- 
tion of  the  chord  sol-si-re,  with  one,  two,  and  even  three 
notes  of  the  chord  fa-la-do,  we  use  green  pencils  (mixture 
of  blue  and  yellow).  For  we  would  keep  the  theory  in  mind 
by  visible  signs,  which  act  most  powerfully  upon  the  minds 
of  children. 

"  Then  we  pass  to  perfect  minor  chords,  and  terminate  this 
first  branch  of  our  method  by  the  study  of  the  gamut. 

"  Our  pupil  knows  as  yet  only  a  single  tone,  —  the  tone  of 
do,  which  we  designate  by  the  name  of  model  tone  ;  —  but 
all  musicians  are  aware  that  to  know  well  one  tone,  is  to 
know  them  all,  since  they  are  all  calculated  on  the  model 
tone  with  which  we  began.  The  second  part  of  our  method 
will  treat  of  the  other  tones,  but  it  will  prove  no  serious  dif- 
ficulty to  our  pupil. 

"  We  have  carefully  avoided  scientific  terms,  though  doubt- 
less, by  a  learned  terminology,  we  should  have  struck  super- 
ficial minds  more.  But  we  address  ourselves  to  the  serious, 
who  know  that  it  is  better  to  know  a  thing  in  itself,  (in  what 
constitutes  it  essentially,)  without  knowing  its  technology, 
than  to  know  obscure  terms  and  be  ignorant  of  the  thing. 

"  Later,  we  shall  initiate  our  pupil  into  the  language  gen- 
erally adopted  by  all  treatises  on  harmony.  We  wish  that 
one  day  he  may  be  a  distinguished  harmonist,  knowing  mu- 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  33 

sical  grammar  at  the  foundation.  It  is  strange  that  the 
study  of  grammar,  so  vigorously  recommended  for  all  other 
languages,  is  so  entirely  neglected  in  respect  to  musical 
language.  The  study  of  harmony  seems  to  be  reserved 
exclusively  to  artists ;  and  even  among  them,  only  the  few 
who  are  occupied  with  composing  devote  themselves  to  it 
with  any  profoundness.  It  is  to  this  culpable  negligence  that 
we  must  attribute  the  difficulties  of  musical  education. 
Where  is  the  intelligent  musician  who  would  dare  *to  deny 
the  happy  results  inseparable  from  the  most  profound  study 
of  music?  The  scholar  would  necessarily  have  to  give  much 
less  time  to  know  the  art  in  the  best  manner,  which  is  now 
accessible  only  to  remarkable  persons  of  strong  will.  The 
grammatical  study  of  music  should  begin  at  the  same  time  as 
all  other  studies,  and  soon  music  would  become  the  language 
of  all,  instead  of  being  reserved  exclusively  to  the  privileged. 

"  Doubtless  great  reforms  will  be  necessary  to  arrive  at 
this  result,  and  the  spirit  of  routine  which  unhappily  reigns 
everywhere  will  render  sucn  reforms  difficult. 

"  However,  we  found  great  hopes  on  the  inevitable  devel- 
opment of  the  method  of  Froebel,  for  the  principles  he  lays 
down  are  of  general  application." 

I  am  myself  so  profoundly  impressed  with  the  importance 
of  little  children's  beginning  music  in  this  manner,  that,  hav- 
ing found  a  teacher  who  is  capable  of  it,  I  intend,  another 
year,  to  have  extra  hours  for  those  who  will  commence  in- 
strumental music,  in  my  own  Kindergarten  ;  so  that  each 
child  can  have  a  lesson  every  day,  and  only  play  under  the 
eye  of  the  teacher  until  quite  expert. 


2* 


34  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

PLAYS,    GYMNASTICS,   AND    DANCING. 

IN  playing  THE  PIGEON-HOUSE,  the  teacher,  who  should 
always  play  with  the  children,  takes  three  quarters  of  the 
number,  and  forms  them  into  a  circle,  while  the  other  quar- 
ter remains  in  the  middle,  to  represent  the  pigeons. 

The  circle  is  the  pigeon-house,  and  sings  the  song,  begin- 
ning with  the  words : 

"  We  open  the  pigeon-house  again," 

while,  standing  still,  they  all  hold  up  their  joined  hands,  so 
as  to  let  all  the  pigeons  out  at  the  word  "  open  ; "  and,  as  the 
circle  goes  round  singing, 

"  And  let  all  the  happy  flatterers  free, 
They  fly  o'er  the  fields  and  grassy  plain, 
Delighted  with  glorious  liberty," 

the  pigeons  run  round,  waving  their  hands  up  and  down  to 
imitate  flying.     At  the  word  "  return,"  in  the  line 
"And  when  they  return  from  their  joyous  flight," 

the  joined  hands  of  those  in  circle  are  lifted  up  again,  and 
the  pigeons  go  in.  Then  the  pigeon-house  closes  round  them, 
bowing  their  heads,  and  singirfg, 

"  We  shut  up  the  house  and  bid  them  good-night," 
which  is  repeated  while  the  circle  swings  off  and  again  comes 
together  bowing. 

The  play  can  be  done  over  until  all  in  turn  have  been 
pigeons. 

In  playing  HARE  IN  THE  HOLLOW,  a  fourth  of  the  chil- 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  35 

dren  sit  in  the  middle,  on  their  hands  and  feet,  while  the 
rest,  in  circle,  go  round  singing  the  three  verses,  and  when 
the  words  "jump  and  spring,"  in  the  last  verse,  occur,  the 
circle  stops,  and  the  joined  hands  are  lifted  up,  and  all  the 
children  leap  out  and  around,  on  their  hands  and  feet,  (not 
knees,)  —  while  the  last  lines  are  repeated  twice. 

In  THE  CUCKOOS,  a  circle  is  formed,  or  two  concentric 
circles,  and  four  children  are  put  in  the  four  corners  of  the 
room  to  enact  cuckoos.  The  cuckoos  sing  "cuckoo,"  and 
those  children  in  the  circle  answer ;  and  when  the  words  of 
the  song  indicate  that  the  cuckoos  should  join  the  children, 
all  four  burst  into  the  circle,  and  those  who  are  found  at  their 
right  hands  become  cuckoos  the  next  time. 

Almost  like  this  last  is  the  play  of  THE  BEES  ;  one  child 
being  put  in  the  corner  as  a  drone,  and  at  the  word  "  Be- 
ware" the  drone  breaks  into  the  circle. 

THE  WIND-MILL  is  done  by  dividing  the  children  into  com- 
panies of  four,  and  letting  them  cross  right  hands  and  go 
round,  and  then  cross  left  hands  and  go  round  the  opposite 
way.  By  a  change  of  the  word  wind-mitt  to  water-wheel, 
the  same  music  will  serve  for  another  play,  in  which  there 
is  a  large  circle  formed,  and  then  four  or  six  spokes  are 
made  by  six  crossing  hands  in  the  middle,  and  then  one  or 
more  children  lengthening  each  spoke,  and  joining  it  to  the 
circle,  which  forms  the  rim  of  the  wheel.  This  is  a  more 
romping  play  than  either  of  the  foregoing,  as  the  different 
velocities  of  those  who  are  at  the  centre  and  circumference 
make  it  nearly  impossible  to  have  the  motions  correspond  in 
time  ;  but  it  is  great  fun,  and  serves  for  a  change. 

THE  CLAPPERS  IN  THE  COEN-MILL  is  made  by  one  or  by 
two  concentric  circles,  going  round  as  they  sing  the  words  ; 
and  the  beauty  of  it  consists  in  their  minding  the  pauses  and 
clapping  in  time.  Whenever  there  are  concentric  circles,  as 
is  often  necessary,  when  there  are  many  children,  the  circles 
should  move  in  different  directions,  and  all  circular  motions 
must  be  frequently  reversed. 


36  KINDERGARTEN    GUIDE. 

In  THE  SAWYERS,  the  children  stand  facing  each  other  in 
couples,  in  a  circle,  and  move  their  joined  hands  from  shoul- 
der to  shoulder  in  time  to  the  music  of  the  first  verse.  In 
singing  the  second  verse,  they  skip  round  with  their  part- 
ners. 

In  THE  WHEELBARROW,  they  are  also  arranged  in  couples, 
back  to  front ;  the  front  child  leaning  over  to  imitate  the  bar- 
row, and  stretching  his  hands  behind  him,  which  the  child  at 
his  back  takes  as  if  to  wheel.  When  the  words  are  repeated 
the  children  reverse. 

In  THE  COOPERS,  the  children,  who  form  the  barrels  or 
hogshead,  stand  back  to  front  in  a  circle,  each  taking  hold  of 
the  waist  of  the  one  before  him.  The  coopers  walk  round 
outside  in  time,  at  every  third  step  pounding  on  the  shoulder 
of  the  child  nearest  him  in  the  barrel.  When  the  word 
"  around  "  comes,  the  barrel  must  begin  to  turn,  and  the  coop- 
ers stand  still,  pounding  on  the  shoulders  of  each  child  as 
he  passes. 

In  THE  LITTLE  MASTER  OP  GYMNASTICS,  each  child  in 
turn  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  circle,  and  makes  any  mo- 
tion he  chooses,  which  all  the  rest  imitate. 

EQUAL  TREADING  is  done  in  a  circle,  or  in  two  con- 
centric circles. 

In  WE  LIKE  TO  GO  A-ROVING,  the  children  march 
round  freely  within  sound  of  the  music,  singing  and  keep- 
ing time  carefully. 

In  THE  FISHES,  the  children  are  arranged  as  in  the  pigeon- 
house  ;  and  at  the  words  "  swimming,"  "  above,"  "  below," 
"  straight,"  and  "  bow,"  the  fishes  must  make  corresponding 
motions,  while  the  circle  that  forms  the  pond  goes  round 
singing. 

In  THE  PENDULUM,  the  children  follow  each  other  in  a 
circle,  moving  one  arm  before  them,  like  a  pendulum,  in  time 
to  the  music,  and  with  a  strongly  marked  motion,  while  they 
all  sing  the  song.  When  one  arm  is  tired,  the  other  can  be 
used  for  the  pendulum. 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  37 

Let  the  children  also  follow  one  another  in  a  circle  to  play 
THE  WEATHERCOCK.  Beforehand,  the  points  of  the  com- 
pass should  be  defined  in  the  room,  and  the  children  must 
point,  as  they  sing,  "  North,  South,  East,  West." 

The  prettiest  of  all  the  plays  is  THE  PEASANT.  All  join 
hands  and  sing,  going  round  in  time  with  the  music,  when 
they  come  to  the  words,  "  Look,  'tis  so  —  so  does  the  peasant," 
they  must  make  the  corresponding  motion.  In  the  first  verse, 
they  make  believe,  as  the  children  say,  to  hold  up  the  apron 
with  one  hand,  and  throw  the  seed  with  the  other.  In  the 
second  verse,  they  kneel  on  one  knee  at  the  same  words,  and 
make  believe  hold  the  corn  with  one  hand  and  cut  with  the 
other.  In  the  third  verse,  they  put  the  doubled  fists  at  the 
left  shoulder,  and  make  the  motion  of  thrashing.  In  the 
fourth  verse,  they  make  the  motion  of  holding  and  shaking  a 
sieve.  In  the  fifth,  they  kneel  on  one  knee  and  rest  the  head 
in  the  hand  ;  in  the  sixth,  they  jump  straight  up  and  down, 
turning  to  each  point  of  the  compass,  till  the  chorus,  "  la,  la," 
begins,  when  each  takes  his  next  neighbor  for  a  partner,  and 
they  skip  round  the  room. 

Some  other  plays,  accompanied  by  musical  words,  can  be 
found  in  the  exercise  books  for  the  common  schools;  but 
there  is  much  room  for  invention  here,  and  perhaps  it  would 
be  possible  to  put  among  these  plays  many  of  the  national 
dances  of  the  peasants  of  Europe. 

But  while  the  music  and  song  will  prevent  disagreeable 
romping,  care  should  be  taken  that  the  ease  and  fun  of  play 
should  not  be  sacrificed  to  the  music  and  singing.  The  plays 
must  be  recreation  ;  and  may  often  be  commuted  for  a  run 
in  the  open  air,  when  the  weather  will  permit. 

Every  day,  too,  it  is  desirable  that  there  should  be  a  quar- 
ter of  an  hour's  gymnastics.  Dr.  Dio  Lewis's  free  gymnas- 
tics, and  his  exercises  with  dumb-bells,  rings,  and  wands, 
made  small  to  suit  infantile  hands,  can  be  alternately  run 
through,  to  the  sound  of  music.  In  my  own  Kindergarten, 
a  graduate  of  Dr.  Lewis's  Normal  School  conducts  these  ex- 


38  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

ercises ;  and  here  a  considerable  degree  of  precision  can  be 
aimed  at,  without  danger  of  destroying  the  amusement. 
Children  like  the  effect  of  the  precision.  This  exercise  may 
also  occasionally  be  changed  for  a  run,  or  for  a  game  of  bags 
in  the  open  air.  After  some  degree  of  skill  is  obtained  on 
the  dumb-bells,  wands,  and  rings,  the  game  of  BAGS  can  be 
introduced ;  but  at  first  it  is  alarming  to  little  children,  and 
it  always  requires  so  large  an  area,  that  it  is  best  to  be  played 
in  the  open  air. 

Dancing  is  another  exercise  for  the  Kindergarten.  In  my 
own,  I  do  not  very  rigidly  give  the  positions  and  steps,  but 
teach  a  simple  skip  forward  and  sideways ;  and  then  teach 
them  ladies-chain,  right  and  left,  balancing  to  partners,  and 
other  simple  evolutions,  so  that  they  may  have  cotillons  and 
contra-dances  as  one  form  of  exercise. 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  39 


CHAPTER  V. 

BLOCKS,    STICKS,   AND    PEAS. 

FROEBEL  has  made  a  great  point  of  block-building  in  his 
system.  He  invented  what  he  has  called  Six  Gifts,  in  as 
many  different  boxes.  As  he  took  infants-at-nurse  into  his 
Kindergarten,  making  it  an  object  to  teach  mothers  and 
nurses  how  to  tend  babies,  so  as  to  amuse  them  without 
rasping  their  nerves  or  spoiling  -their  tempers,  his  First 
Gift  was  a  box  of  six  soft  balls,  of  the  primary  and  sec- 
ondary colors ;  and  his  Second  Gift  a  wooden  ball,  two 
cubes,  and  a  cylinder.  These  gifts  I  shall  not  farther  de- 
scribe, as  they  have  been  published  in  Boston,  with  small 
manuals  in  each  box,  showing  how  they  are  to  be  used ; 
and  are  for  children  in  the  nursery  rather  than  in  the  Kin- 
dergarten. 

But  the  other  four  gifts  are  indispensable  to  any  Kin- 
dergarten. The  Third  Gift  consists  of  eight  cubes,  one 
inch  in  dimension ;  the  Fourth,  of  sixteen  parallelopipedons 
two  inches  by  one,  and  half  an  inch  thick ;  the  Fifth  and 
Sixth,  not  only  of  such  cubes  and  parallelopipedons,  but  of 
solid  triangles,  some  tyeing  half  the  inch  cube,  and  some  a 
quarter  of  it ;  also  cubes  divided  horizontally,  and  parallel- 
opipedons divided  lengthwise. 

Froebel's  plan  was  to  have  the  eight  cubes  given  to  the 
child  first ;  and  to  have  him  led  by  imitation  and  sugges- 
tion to  make  these  into  the  forms  of  chairs,  sofas,  monu- 
ments, columns,  stalls  for  horses,  tanks,  &c.,  &c.  Also  into 
symmetrical  forms,  which  may  be  called  patterns  for  car- 
pets. Each  box  adds  new  material  for  greater  varieties 


40  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

of  form  till  at  last  quite  elaborate  houses  can  be  represented, 
and  very  complicated  forms  of  beauty.  The  child  is  to  be 
left  to  his  own  spontaneity  as  much  as  possible,  but  the 
teacher  is  to  suggest  means  of  carrying  out  whatever  plan 
or  idea  the  child  has.  What  is  cultivating  about  the  ex- 
ercise is,  that  the  child  makes  or  receives  a  plan,  and  then 
executes  it ;  has  a  thought,  and  embodies  it  in  a  form. 

But  something  more  can  be  done  with  the  blocks.  They 
can  be  made  symbolical  of  the  personages  and  objects  of  a 
story.  Thus  even  with  the  eight  blocks,  five  may  be  a  flock 
of  sheep,  one  the  shepherd,  one  a  wolf,  who  is  seen  in  the 
distance,  and  who  comes  to  steal  a  sheep,  and  one  the  shep- 
herd's dog  who  is  to  defend  the  sheep  against  the  wolf. 
When  all  the  blocks  come  to  be  used,  much  more  compli- 
cated dramas  may  be  represented.  The  teacher  should 
set  an  example,  as,  for  instance,  thus :  "  I  am  going  to 
build  a  light-house,  so ; "  (she  piles  up  some  blocks  and 
leaves  openings  near  the  top,  which  she  says  are  "  the  lan- 
tern part  where  the  lights  are  put ;  "  near  the  light-house  are 
a  number  of  blocks,  rather  confusedly  laid  together,  of  which 
she  says,)  "  These  are  rocks,  which  are  very  dangerous  for 
ships,  but  which  are  scarcely  ever  seen,  because  the  water 
dashes  over  them,  especially  when  there  is  a  storm,  or  when 
the  night  is  dark ;  and  that  is  the  reason  the  light-house  is 
put  here.  Whenever  sailors  see  a  light-house,  they  know 
there  is  danger  where  it  stands ;  and  so  they  steer  their 
ships  away  from  the  place.  Look  here !  here  is  a  ship," 
(and  she  constructs  with  other  blocks  something  which  she 
calls  a  ship,  or  schooner,  or  sloop,  representing  respective- 
ly the  number  of  masts  which  characterize  each  kind  of 
vessel,)  "  And  there  is  a  pilot  standing  upon  it  who  has  seen 
the  light-house,  and  is  turning  the  ship  another  way." 

Having  built  her  story,  she  will  now  call  upon  the  chil- 
dren to  build  something.  Some  will  imitate  her ;  others 
will  have  plans  of  their  own.  As  soon  as  one  has  finished, 
he  or  she  must  hold  up  a  handa  and  the  teacher  will  call 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  41 

• 

upon  as  many  as  there  is  time  for,  to  explain  their  construc- 
tions. There  is  no  better  way  for  a  teacher  to  learn  what 
is  in  children,  their  variety  of  mental  temperament  and  im- 
agination, than  by  this  playing  with  blocks.  Some  will  be 
prosaic  and  merely  imitative  ;  some  will  show  the  greatest 
confusion,  and  the  most  fantastic  operations  of  mind  ;  others 
the  most  charming  fancies ;  and  others  inventive  genius. 
But  there  will  always  be  improvement,  by  continuing  the 
exercise  ;  and  it  is  a  great  means  of  development  into  self- 
subsistence  and  continuity  of  thought.  In  my  own  Kin- 
dergarten, a  gifted  teacher  has  made  this  block-building  a 
means  of  Reaching  a  great  variety  of  things,  and  among 
other  things,  Natural  History.  A  half  an  hour  nearly  every 
day  is  given  to  it.  I  have  a  table  twelve  feet  long  and 
four  or  five  feet  broad,  and  before  the  children  come,  she 
sets  up  along  the  length  of  the  table,  a  variety  of  construc- 
tions, representing  woods,  rocks,  bushes,  or  whatever  she 
wants  as  the  haunts  of  the  animals  whose  habits  she  wishes 
to  describe.  She  then  invents  some  story,  or  incidents, 
that  shall  involve  the  facts  which  she  means  to  convey. 
Twenty-five  or  thirty  children  can  stand  or  kneel  round 
the  table  ;  and  when  they  come  up,  she  Explains  what  she 
Las  built,  —  about  which  they  are  very  curious.  They  will 
listen  to  her  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  while  their  eyes  are 
filled  with  these  blocks,  which  assume,  to  their  quick  im- 
aginations, whatever1  form  she  may  choose  to  give  them, 
when,  if  she  were  to  speak  without  these  material  things 
before  their  eyes,  it  would  be  quite  impossible  to  command 
their  silent  attention  so  long.  When  she  has  done,  she  says, 
"  Now  you  build  ! "  and  as  all  have  boxes  before  them,  each 
containing  about  twenty-five  blocks,  they  immediately  begin 
to  build.  What  they  are  taught  by  the  teacher  reappears, 
day  after  day,  in  their  constructions,  mingled  with  circum- 
stances of  their  own  invention.  When  their  stories  are 
very  fantastic,  they  are  received  by  the  teacher  as  jokes. 
When  there  is  attempt  to  represent  realities,  there  is  oppor- 


42  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

« 

tunity  for  correcting  erroneous  impressions  that  have  been 
given,  and  it  is  pretty  to  see  how  much  they  learn  by  this 
amusement.  The  teacher  preserves  a  certain  method  in 
what  she  represents.  She  sometimes  divides  the  table  into 
Asia  and  Africa ;  and  occasionally  adds  Australia,  America, 
and  Europe ;  and  keeps  her  animals  in  their  own  quarter 
of  the  world.  If  any  child  has  an  animal  in  his  or  her  story, 
she  is  asked  of  what  country  it  is  ;  and  if  several  animals,  of 
different  countries,  are  in  the*  story,  a  question  arises  of  how 
it  can  be  ;  and  sometimes  a  menagerie  is  imagined  to  account 
for  inconsistencies  of  geography.  It  is  obvious  to  the  slight- 
est reflection  how  much  can  be  taught  in  this  \<fey.  But 
the  teacher  must  be  well  posted  in  Natural  History,  and  is 
obliged  to  read  books  of  travels,  &c.,  to  get  anecdotes. 
We  have  found  the  works  of  J.  G.  Woods,  "  Common  Ob- 
jects of  the  Country,"  "  My  Feathered  Friends,"  and  es- 
pecially the  large  work  he  edits,  called  "  Routledge's  Illus- 
trated Natural  History,"  very  useful. 

In  order  to  make  these  lessons  in  Natural  History  still 
more  useful,  we  have  some  large  cards,  imported  from  Eu- 
rope, on  which  birds  and  other  animals  are  represented  in 
the  proportions  of  their  size  ;  and  these  are  exhibited  when 
the  animals  are  spoken  of.  In  order  to  impress  the  forms 
still  more  strongly,  I  draw  the  animals  on  paper,  and  let  the 
children  prick  their  outlines,  —  which  forms  another  exercise, 
and  is  very  much  delighted  in  by  the  children.  They  thus 
have  something  to  carry  home  which  they  have  done  them- 
selves. 

I  have  said  that  Froebel's  First  and  Second  Gifts  are  pub- 
lished in  Boston.  I  think  the  other  Gifts  —  that  is  the  Third 
and  Fourth,  together  with  some  of  Fifth  and  Sixth,  will 
presently  be  published  in  one  box,  with  some  lithographic 
plates  of  the  forms  they  can  make.  For  it  is  indispensable 
that  every  child  in  a  Kindergarten  should  have  a  box  of 
blocks;  and  the  book  of  plates  would  enable  them  sometimes 
to  play  with  the  blocks  when  the  teacher  cannot  be  super- 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  43 

intending  them.  The  box  and  book  would  also  be  quite  a 
resource  for  children  at  home,  especially  after  they  have 
learnt  how  to  play  from  a  good  teacher.  All  is  accomplished 
when  the  child  makes  a  plan,  embodies  it,  and  gives  an  ac- 
count of  what  he  has  done. 

But  blocks  may  also  be  used  to  give  the  elements  of 
arithmetic  and  geometry,  as  I  shall  show  in  the  proper  place. 

STICK-LAYING. 

Barley  straws  can  be  used  with  much  advantage  to  form  a 
pleasant  amusement  for  children.  They  should  be  cut  into 
pieces  of  an  inch,  two  inches,  three  inches,  four  inches,  five 
inches,  and  six  inches ;  and  each  of  the  children  should  have 
a  hundred  in  a  box.  They  can  then  be  taught  to  lay  them 
so  as  to  make  windows,  doors,  houses,  fences,  and  the  various 
rectilinear  figures,  regular  and  irregular  polygons.  They 
can  make  these  figures  with  their  barley-straws,  and  then 
copy  them  on  their  slates,  one  side  of  which  it  is  a  good  plan 
to  have  marked  with  a  steel  point  in  squares  of  half  an  inch, 
or  a  third  of  an  inch  dimension  ;  for  there  is  nothing  so 
hard  in  drawing  as  to  make  a  straight  line.  Several  of  the 
capital  letters  can  be  made  by  these  barley-straws,  as  A,  E, 
F,  H,  I,  K,  L,  M,  N,  T,  V,  W,  X,  Y,  Z.  Then  these  can 
be  copied  upon  the  slate,  and  the  children  will  soon  add  the 
rest  of  the  letters  on  their  slates,  making  the  curves  with 
their  pencils.  Froebel  used  stiff  wooden  sticks  ;  but  I  men- 
tion barley-straws,  because  I  have  found  it  difficult  to  get 
the  straight  wooden  sticks. 

PEA-WORK. 

But  hard  wooden  sticks,  sharpened  at  both  ends,  are 
necessary  for  pea-work.  The  object,  in  this  kind  of  work,  is 
to  make  frames  of  houses,  chairs,  tables,  &c.,  by  using  peas, 
first  dried,  and  then  soaked  in  water.  The  peas  make  points 


44  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

of  union  for  the  sticks.  Among  Froebel's  gifts  a  box  of 
sticks  and  peas  is  found,  and  it  would  pay  any  toy-dealer  to 
get  the  box  up  in  this  country.  The  best  way  to  prevent  in 
children  the  habit  of  destruction,  is  to  give  them  means  for 
construction. 

The  first  step  in  pea-work  is,  as  usual,  the  most  simple : 
a  certain  number  of  sticks  and  peas  are  given  to  the  child, 
and  the  question  is  asked,  What  can  you  form  ?  When  the 
teacher  has  ascertained,  by  having  heard  the  children's  an- 
swers to  her  question,  what  is  the  peculiar  individuality  of 
each  child,  she  commences  with  the  most  simple  forms.  She 
takes  a  stick,  and  places  at  each  end  a  pea,  and  asks  what  is 
this  like  ?  The  answers  will  be  various :  a  candle,  a  pin,  a 
pillar,  the  letter  I,  and  the  round  of  a  chair.  On  this  last 
hint  she  may  proceed  and  form  two  rounds  in  the  same 
way,  and  then  set  sticks  in  the  peas  at  right  angles,  and  at 
last  unite  these  so  as  to  make  a  square.  This  will  become 
the  foundation  of  the  chair.  Then  four  more  sticks  may  be 
stuck  into  the  same  peas,  vertically  at  right  angles  with  the 
others,  and  these  can  be  united  by  horizontal  lines  represent- 
ing the  seat  of  the  chair.  Then  by  means  of  three  more 
sticks  the  outline  of  the  back  of  the  chair  may  be  made. 
Many  frames  can  be  made  on  the  basis  of  a  square,  among 
which  is  a  barn.  Again,  there  can  be  a  triangle  for  the 
basis,  on  which  can  be  constructed  a  pyramid,  an  obelisk,  a 
church  spire,  a  prism.  At  first  a  limited  number  of  sticks 
can  be  given  to  each  child,  afterwards  an  unlimited  number. 

For  this  pea-work  special  preparation  and  strict  order  are 
required ;  the  sticks  must  be  properly  pointed  and  graduated 
in  length,  the  peas  properly  softened,  or  the  child  will  not 
be  benefited. 

We  shall  append  a  plate  to  give  an  idea  of  the  pea-work, 
and  a  few  patterns  for  the  weaving  spoken  of  in  the  next 
chapter. 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  45 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MANIPULATIONS. 

BLOCK-BUILDING,  stick-laying,  and  pea-work  follow  the 
more  violent  kinds  of  exercise,  and  seem  to  the  children  only 
forms  of  playing.  While  the  former  cannot  fill  up  more 
than  a  quarter  of  each  hour,  the  latter  should  not  do  more 
than  fill  up  another  quarter.  Some  form  of  manipulation 
can  take  up  another  quarter. 

First  is  SEWING.  —  On  perforated  board  should  be  drawn 
(both  sides)  simple  rectilinear  forms,  such  as  spades,  shovels, 
saws,  watering-pots,  bee-hives,  wigwams,  guns,  drums,  bar- 
racks, the  United  States  flag,  &c.,  and  the  children  will  learn 
to  use  a  needle  and  thread  with  great  pleasure,  especially  if 
different  colored  threads  are  used.  As  they  become  more 
skilful,  more  complicated  forms  and  cross-stitches  can  be 
taught ;  and  by  and  by  canvas  can  be  substituted  for  the 
perforated  board.  Plain  sewing  can  also  be  taught,  the  girls 
having  dolls'  clothes  to  sew,  and  the  boys  bags  for  their  fish- 
ing-tackle, pincushions,  &c. 

2.  WEAVING.  —  Another  quiet  amusement  is  to  weave 
into  paper,  cut  for  the  purpose,  narrow  strips  of  card-board 
of  different  colors.  Colored  cards  of  various  colors  can  be 
bought  by  the  thousand,  and  cut  up  carefully  into  strips  an 
eighth  of  an  inch  broad.  Each  color  should  be  in  a  different 
compartment  of  the  teacher's  box,  and  the  children  be  allowed 
to  choose  their  own  colors.  For  a  time,  a  simple  checker-work 
is  all  that  can  be  accomplished.  By  and  by  different  patterns 
may  be  proposed  by  the  teacher  for  imitation  by  the  children. 
It  will  be  necessary  to  cut  the  paper  into  which  the  card- 


46  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

board  is  to  be  slipped,  which  is  a  nice  process,  as  the  cuts 
must  be  very  exact.  Possibly  it  might  be  done  by  ma- 
chinery. But  in  my  own  Kindergarten  we  have  done  it  our- 
selves, doubling  the  paper  and  using  the  scissors,  and  making 
the  cuts  correspond  in  size  with  the  strips  of  card-board. 
Any  colored  paper  may  be  used,  but  I  have  always  used 
white.  Among  Froebel's  Gifts  is  a  box  of  papers  already 
cut,  and  strips  of  paper  which  he  proposes  should  be  slipped 
into  thin  pieces  of  wood  and  drawn  through  according  to  the 
pattern  proposed.  But  we  found  that  it  was  much  better  to 
have  stiff' slips  than  to  have  paper  with  the  apparatus  of  the 
wooden  needle. 

When  Kindergartens  become  as  common  as  they  certainly 
will,  as  soon  as  the  method  is  known  enough  to  be  appre- 
ciated, prepared  boxes  of  cut  paper  and  slips  of  colored 
card-board  will  doubtless  come  into  commerce,  and  boxes  of 
perforated  board,  with  the  patterns  already  drawn  on  both 
sides,  all  ready  for  the  needle. 

3.  PRICKING.  —  Another  very' attractive  thing  is  for  the 
teacher  to  draw  the  forms  of  birds  and  animals  on  paper  for 
children  to  prick.  They  are  greatly  delighted  to  hold  these 
pricked  forms  upon  the  window-pane,  and  see  the  lines  of 
light  which  they  have  made,  and  also  to  see  the  raised  work 
on  the  other  side  of  the  paper. 

A  teacher  can  easily  furnish  herself  with  a  large  quantity 
of  patterns  by  tracing,  with  a  fine  pen,  upon  engineer's  cam- 
bric, from  "Jardine's  Naturalists'  Library,"  or,  still  better, 
from  "  Routledge's  Illustrated  Natural  History,"  edited  by 
Woods,  the  forms  of  beasts  and  birds,  with  more  or  less  detail 
of  feathers  in  the  case  of  the  birds.  From  these  patterns, 
tracings  can  be  made  upon  paper.  If  children  are  taught  a 
good  deal  about  the  habits,  &c.,  of  birds  and  beasts,  it  will 
be  a  very  good  plan  to  choose  for  the  pricking  the  forms  of 
what  has  been  talked  about,  so  that  they  may  have  exact 
ideas  of  these  forms ;  and  while  they  are  pricking,  what  has 
been  taught  may  be  brought  again  to  their  memory  by  the 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  47 

teacher.  A  good  deal  of  care  should  be  given  to  meet  the 
fancies  of  the  children,  in  distributing  the  forms  to  be  pricked, 
so  that  the  interest  may  be  kept  vivid  ;  and  I  suppose  it  is 
needless  to  say,  that  not  only  must  they  weave,  prick,  or  sew 
but  a  quarter  of  an  hour  at  a  time,  but  they  should  not  do 
all  these  things  on  the  same  day,  or  oftener  than  twice  a 
week. 

To  make  the  interest  of  the  pricking  greater,  I  color  the 
forms  on  the  patterns  which  I  make  for  them,  according  to 
Nature,  and  allow  my  children  to  have  them  before  their 
eyes  while  they  are  pricking.  This  coloring  is  very  simple 
and  unshaded  ;  and  I  find  that  some  of  the  children,  who 
have»  paint-boxes  at  home,  color  the  pricked  forms,  when 
they  get  home,  according  to  their  recollection  of  the  pattern. 
It  would  be  a  formidable  thing  to  undertake  to  superintend 
the  coloring  at  the  Kindergarten ;  but  if  one  had  assistants 
enough  this  also  could  be  done,  at  least  in  the  case  of  the 
older  ones.  Newton's  albumen  colors,  if  they  were  a  little 
cheaper,  would  serve  nicely  ;  butj  at  all  events,  it  would  be 
a  very  great  task  for  the  teachers,  and  small  children  would 
succeed  so  indifferently  that  it  is,,  quite  a  question  whether  it 
would  be  worth  while  for  them  lo  attempt  anything  so  diffi- 
cult. Nothing  should  be  undertaken,  in  the  Kindergarten,  in 
which  there  is  not  a  fair  chance  of  some  considerable  success, 
for  it  is  not  a  good  habit  to  faij.  in  anything  which  is  seri- 
ously attempted ;  and  one  greaj  reason  for  superintending 
children  in  what  they  do  is,  that  an  adult's  judgment  is 
necessary  for  the  choice  of  what  is  attempted.  The  habit 
of  success  produces  perseverance. 

4.  PAPER  FOLDING  AND  CUTTING. — This  is  an  amuse- 
ment which  may  lead  to  beautiful  results.  Billings,  one  of 
our  most  gifted  artists,  first  developed  his  genius  with  paper 
and  scissors.  Exquisite  delicacy  and  rich  invention  were 
displayed  in  his  paper  cuttings,  even  when  he  was  but 
five  or  six  years  of  age.  Let  each  child  be  provided  with 
a  pair  of  scissors,  and  a  square  piece  of  thin  paper.  Also 


48  KINDERGARTEN   GUIDE. 

have  the  same  yourself,  and  let  them  imitate  you,  as  you  go 
through  the  following  process  :  — 

1.  Lay  the  paper  straight  on  the  table.  2.  Unite  two 
opposite  corners  and  crease  the  fold,  which  will  make  a  tri- 
angle. 3.  Hold  the  doubled  corners  in  the  fingers  and  unite 
the  other  two  corners,  by  which  a  smaller  triangle  is  pro- 
duced with  one  side  closed  and  the  other  open.  4.  Turn 
one  of  the  folds  to  the  right,  the  other  to  the  left,  keeping  the 
corners,  where  they  are  all  united,  between  the  forefinger 
and  the  thumb,  and  cut  the  paper  at  the  base,  so  as  to  form 
an  acute-angled  isosceles  triangle.  5.  Now  cut  into  all  the 
creases  as  they  are  folded  together,  and  into  the  edges,  mak- 
ing little  diamonds,  or  any  kind  of  cuts,  and  gouging  out 
small  pieces.  6.  Unfold,  and  a  symmetrical  pattern  will  be 
found -to  be  cut. 

These  first  manipulations  can  be  easily  performed  by  the 
youngest  children.  When  done,  the  little  figures  are  col- 
lected, put  into  an  envelope,  and  taken  home. 

It  can  be  proposed  that  a  child  should  cut  in  paper  shapes 
of  ivy  leaves,  and  other  flowers  ;  of  birds,  animals,  &c.  At 
first,  models  for  imitation  can  be  given ;  but  from  the  first, 
children  should  be  incited  to  invent  forms.  Upon  a  paper 
simply  folded  once,  cups,  vases,  beautiful  bowls,  with  two 
handles,  can  be  produced ;  and  where  there  is  genius  for 
producing  forms  of  beauty,  it  will  not  fail  to  show  itself  very 
soon.  Symmetrical  forms  being  insured  by  the  folding, 
the  smallest  child  can  accomplish  something,  which  will 
please  the  eye  and  encourage  to  new  efforts. 

Paper  folding  can  be  made  the  means  of  developing  geo- 
metrical power  in  children,  as  will  be  shown  in  the  proper 
place. 

5.  MOULDING.  —  This  is  the  highest  form  of  manipula- 
tion, and  one  which  is  very  fascinating  to  children,  who 
often  make  forms  with  mud  and  snow  in  their  out-door  play. 

The  material,  whether  clay,  rice,  wax,  or  whatever  else 
may  be  employed,  must  be  previously  prepared,  and  always 
kept  hi  a  plastic  state. 


KINDERGARTEN    GUIDE.  49 

Clay  is  the  least  expensive  material,  but  it  must  always  be 
kept  wet,  and  it  is  cold  to  the  hands.  Wax,  prepared  with 
oil,  is  more  expensive,  but  far  cleaner  than  clay ;  and  it  has 
the  advantage  of  preserving  the  forms  moulded,  while  the 
clay  shrinks  and  cracks  when  it  dries. 

The  material  being  prepared,  each  child  is  supplied  either 
with  a  small  flat  board,  slate,  cloth,  or  strong  paper,  to  cover 
the  part  of  the  table  used  ;  a  small  blunt  elastic  knife,  and  a 
portion  of  the  plastic  material.  The  child  is  first  left  to 
pursue  the  bent  of  its  own  inclinations, — generally  the  roller 
and  the  ball  are  the  first  objects  attempted,  —  in  their  for- 
mation the  child  finds  great  delight.  Irregular  forms  are, 
however,  the  easiest.  The  children  are  encouraged  to 
imitate  birds'  nests,  baskets,  candlesticks,  and  various  fruits  : 
apples,  pears,  strawberries,  also  some  vegetables,  and  espe- 
cially flowers ;  —  whenever  it  is  possible  let  them  have  the 
natural  objects  before  them.  Afterwards  models  of  animals 
are  given  for  imitations ;  and  they  are  encouraged  to  make 
parts  of  the  human  figure,  —  fingers,  hands,  ears,  noses,  for 
which  they  have  models  in  each  other.  I  have  known  a  boy 
not  twelve  years  old,  who  would  take  an  engraved  head,  and 
mould  one  by  it,  in  which  the  likeness  would  be  remark- 
able ;  —  he  used  wax  and  a  pin. 

To  make  forms  from  the  hint  of  an  engraving,  is  a  little 
above  imitation  ;  and  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  we  do  not 
wish  the  children  to  stop  with  imitations.  Let  them  go  on 
and  invent  forms,  beautiful  vases,  pitchers,  &c.  When  they 
begin  to  make  heads  and  human  figures,  a  teacher,  who  un- 
derstands the  principles  of  drawing,  can  bring  to  their  notice 
the  proportions  of  the  human  figure  and  face  found  in  nature, 
which  make  ideal  beauty.  Many  a  heaven-destined  sculptor 
•will  find  himself  out,  in  the  Kindergarten. 

6.  DRAWING  AND  PAINTING.  —  Mr.  Sheldon,  in  his 
"  Elementary  Instruction,"  has  given,  in  detail,  "  Krusi's  Sys- 
tem of  Inventive  Drawing,"  which  has  its  merits ;  but  Miss 
M.  A.  Dwight,  in  the  pages  of  "  Barnard's  Journal  of  Edu- 
3 


50  KINDERGARTEN    GUIDE. 

cation,"  has  presented  some  important  considerations  in  favor 
of  a  different  method  for  those  whose  final  object  is  Art,  — 
and  that  is  the  object  always  to  be  aimed  at. 

In  my  own  Kindergarten,  I  found  that  the  lessons  of 
Madame  Rouge's  Guide  were  so  uninteresting  to  my  children, 
that  I  abandoned  that  course,  and  got  from  Dr.  Rimrner,  the 
sculptor,  (who  has  given,  in  his  own  drawing-school  in  Bos- 
ton, a  new  idea  of  what  is  meant  by  teaching  drawing,}  some 
elementary  sketches  involving  the  proportions  of  the  human 
figure.  My  assistant  draws  on  the  black-board  line  by  line, 
which  the  children  copy  on  their  slates,  very  much  interested, 
as  they  go  on,  to  know  what  is  coming. 

Light-houses,  cottages,  barns,  &c.,  around  which  are  figure3 
of  men,  drawn  sometimes  by  five  single,  sometimes  by  five 
double  lines,  surmounted  by  a  large  dot  for  a  head,  and  in  all 
attitudes,  particularly  in  attitudes  of  action,  excite  the  imagi- 
nation to  invention,  and  give  a  freedom  of  hand,  as  well  as 
of  fancy,  which,  I  am  inclined  to  think,  is  a  better  beginning 
than  geometrical  lines  and  angles.  I  find  that  it  wakes  up 
interest  in  every  child. 

I  speak,  however,  only  of  the  beginnings  for  little  children. 
Krusi's  exercises  can  come  by  and  by,  and  are  very  naturally 
connected  with  stick-laying,  and  make,  perhaps,  the  only 
method  of  drawing  which  can  be  introduced  into  the  public 
primary  schools,  where  classes  are  so  very  large.  Every 
mechanic  needs  such  drawing  lessons,  as  well  as  perspective, 
taught  by  Schmidt's  practical  method. 

My  plan  is,  however,  more  favorable  to  the  attainment  of 
picturesque  drawing,  and  especially  to  the  representation  of 
the  human  figure,  in  which  art  culminates. 

I  have  already  said,  that  coloring  cannot  be  easily  intro- 
duced into  the  Kindergarten.  The  most  advanced  class, 
however,  might  connect  it  with  the  lessons  on  color,  which  are 
prominent  in  the  object  teaching.  Paper,  ruled  in  small 
squares,  might  be  used  to  teach  children  to  lay  on  an  equal 
tint.  First,  only  the  smallest  square  should  be  covered,  and 


KINDERGARTEN    GUIDE.  51 

the  colors  can  be  arranged  according  to  the  harmonies.  Then 
four  squares  could  be  covered  with  one  color,  and  so  on. 
Ruskin's  "  Elements  of  Drawing  with  Colors,"  will  furnish  a 
teacher  with  good  hints  how  to  proceed.  But,  of  course,  this 
is  not  the  place  to  give  a  manual  of  painting. 


52  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MORAL   AND   RELIGIOUS   EXERCISES. 

HARMONIOUS  development  is  Froebel's  idea.  Hence, 
although  the  physical  should  never  be  sacrificed,  and  comes 
first  into  view,  in  the  scheme  of  Kindergarten  culture,  it  is 
not  to  be  exclusive.  Children  grow  in  stature  and  physical 
force,  all  the  better  for  having  their  hearts  and  minds  opened 
in  the  beginning.  It  is  desirable  to  have  a  child  become 
conscious  of  right  and  wrong,  in  reference  to  eating  and 
drinking,  quite  early ;  though  temptation  to  excess  should  be 
removed,  as  a  general  thing,  by  giving  them  simple  whole- 
some food.  In  any  case  where  children  may  not  go  home  at 
noon,  and  there  is  a  luncheon,  some  simple  fruit,  like  apples 
or  grapes,  together  with  milk  biscuits,  or  plain  bread  and  but- 
ter, make  the  best  repast,  satisfying  hunger,  and  not  stimulat- 
ing the  palate  unduly.  I  am  sometimes  shocked  at  the  kind 
of  luncheon  children  bring  to  the  Kindergarten,  it  shows  such 
lamentable  ignorance  of  physiological  laws.  The  practical 
value  of  the  beautiful  symbol  of  the  origin  of  evil,  which 
stands  as  the  first  word  of  the  sacred  volume,  is  enhanced,  by 
its  having  the  form  in  which  temptation  first  assails  the  child. 
No  deeper  interpretation  of  it  is  foreclosed  by  our  presenting 
it  at  first,  to  children,  just  as  it  stands.  The  forbidden  fruit 
is  that  which  will  hurt  the  child;  i.  e.,  give  it  the  disease 
which  by  and  by  may  make  death  a  merciful  release  from 
pains  intolerable  to  bear.  Serpents  have  ho  higher  function 
than  eating ;  but  human  beings  live  to  know  and  love  and  do 
good,  and  so  ought  not  to  eat  everything  that- is  pleasant 
to  the  eyes,  —  but  to  stop,  as  Eve  did  not,  and  inquire 


f   KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  53 

whether  it  is  God  or  the  mere  animal  which  is  man's  proper 
adviser.  Our  appetite  is  the  serpent,  our  thought  is  from 
God.  A  child  understands  all  this  very  early,  if  it  is  thus 
simply  presented  ;  and  it  suggests  the  beginning  of  his  moral 
life.  The  lesson  can  soon  be  generalized.  Whatever  wrong 
things  he  is  tempted  to  do,  whatever  his  conscience  tells  him 
not  to  do,  is  "  forbidden  fruit ; "  his  desire  to  do  it  is  the  ser- 
pent, and  if  he  falls,  it  is  the  old  folly  of  Eve,  who  preferred 
the  advice  of  the  lower  being  to  the  command  of  God,  al- 
ways given  in  the  Conscience.  . 

I  have  known  a  child,  to  whom  this  story  was  early  read 
and  interpreted,  to  whom  it  seemed  to  become  a  "  guard  an- 
gelic "  over  her  life.  The  moral  nature  responded  to  it  at 
once,  and  a  suggestion  that  a  desire  was  perhaps  the  voice  of 
the  serpent,  was  always  quite  enough  to  arouse  the  guardian 
angel  —  Conscience  —  to  a  watch  and  ward  of  the  severest 
character.  It  precluded  the  necessity  of  present  punishment 
and  the  fear  of  future  retribution,  (with  which  a  child  should 
never  be  terrified.) 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  making  children,  I  will  not  say 
too  conscientious,  but  too  conscious ;  and  this  is  often  done 
by  well-meaning  parents  and  teachers,  who  make  them  look 
upon  themselves  personally  as  objects  of  God's  pleasure  or 
displeasure.  This  will  be  avoided  by  using  a  symbol,  like 
the  story  of  Adam  and  Eve,  which  touches  the  imagination, 
and  saves  them  from  the  reactions  of  personal  pique.  A  ju- 
dicious teacher,  who  knows  how  to  paraphrase  as  she  reads, 
and  to  skip  what  is  mere  prosaic  statement,  (and  no  one  who 
cannot  do  this,  is  fit  to  read  to  children,)  can  make  use  of 
many  other  passages  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and  of 
"  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  to  give  to  children  the  whole  doctrine 
of  religious  self-control,  and  inspire  them  to  the  highest  moral 
issues. 

Spiritual  life,  strictly  speaking,  can  only  be  prepared  for 
by  the  best  education.  Its  characteristic  and  essence  consists 
in  that  action  of  the  heart  and  reason  which  does  not  come 


54  KINDEKGAETEX  GUIDE. 

from  human  prompting.  But  it  can  be  prepared  for,  by 
awakening  in  the  child  such  an  aspiration  and  felt  necessity 
for  virtue,  as  well  as  general  idea  of  God,  as  makes  prayer 
to  the  Father  of  Spirits  spontaneous  and  inevitable.  I  am 
in  the  habit  of  speaking  of  God  to  children  as  the  Giver  of 
love  and  goodness,  and  of  the  power  of  thought  and  action, 
rather  than  as  the  Creator  of  the  outward  world,  and  have 
found  that  the  tyrannizing  unity  of  the  soul's  instinct  did  the 
rest. 

I  commence  the  exercises  of  the  Kindergarten  with  the 
singing  of  a  hymn,  —  and  every  other  day  it  is  the  Lord's 
prayer,  just  so  far  transposed  as  to  suit  it  to  the  lovely  mu- 
sic to  which  it  is  set  in  this  volume,  and  which  interprets  the 
meaning  to  their  hearts.  Now  and  then  I  ask  them  if  "  our 
Father's  "  being  "  in  heaven "  means,  that  He  is  not  on 
earth  ? — and  when  they  all  say,  No,  (as  they  always  do  say,) 
I  reply,  "  No,  indeed ;  He  is  everywhere,  and  inside  of  us 
all,  but  spreads  out  into  heaven  and  future  time,  where 
He  is  building  mansions  for  his  dear  good  children."  As  they 
always  tell  me,  when  I  ask  what  halloived  means,  that  they 
do  not  know,  I  explain  it  as  meaning  that  when  we  say  God, 
we  should  always  think  and  feel  how  dear  and  good  He  is, 
and  speak  His  name  with  love.  The  doing  the  will  on  earth 
as  in  heaven  is,  as  they  know,  acting  right,  and  like  as  the 
angels  would  if  they  lived  on  earth.  Conscience  assures 
this  to  them,  and  that  to  do  so  would  make  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  on  earth.  Trespasses  I  explain,  showing  them  ho\v, 
in  meddling  with  other  children's  things,  hurting  others,  or 
any  wrong-doing,  they  trespass  against  God's  kingdom,  which 
is  the  prevalence  of  goodness.  On  being  first  asked  what  a 
"  trespass  "  is,  they  will  themselves  define  it  very  well,  often 
by  examples ;  and  they  can  be  led  to  see  how  wrong  it  is 
to  make  another  do  wrong,  because  that  is  "  leading  them 
into  temptation."  I  do  not  let  the  Lord's  prayer  come  every 
day,  but  alternate  it  with  the  song  on  brotherly  love  and 
other  virtues.  Occasionally,  when  there  is  a  striking  viola- 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  55 

tion  of  the  principles  sung  by  the  lips,  I  say  to  them  that 
doing  the  right  thing  is  the  soul's  song,  which  is  as  sweet  to 
our  heavenly  Father,  as  the  best  music  we  can  hear  is  to  u^s. 

All  reading  to  children  should  be  more  or  less  symbolical, 
and  calculated  to  elevate  the  imagination,  whose  highest  use 
is  to  represent  the  spiritual  in.  the  forms  of  beauty  for  our 
moral  culture.  In  all  the  child's  literature,  with  which  our 
book-stores  are  flooded,  there  is  very  little  which  is  truly 
imaginative  (for  I  draw  a  distinction  between  the  fanciful 
and  imaginative).  Nothing  is  worthy  to  be  called  imagi- 
native that  does  not  involve  an  idea,  in  the  strictest  sense 
of  that  word.  The  parables  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments are  embodiments  of  ideas,  and  touch  this  master-spring 
of  the  human  mind  —  Imagination.  So  is  the  Pilgrim's 
Progress  ;  and  so  are  many  fairy  tales,  and  many  mythologi- 
cal stories  of  Greece,  India,  and  the  North.  I  have  found 
an  English  book,  called  the  "  Heroes  of  Asgard,"  invaluable ; 
and  "  The  Siory  without  an  End  "  is  a  beautiful  reading-book 
for  children,  in  whose  pages  they  find  themselves  in  a  maze 
of  beautiful  images  and  picturesque  words,  waking  echoes 
that  do  not  sleep  again,  but  give  presentiments  and  foretaste 
"  of  the  perfect  good  and  fair." 

In  my  own  Kindergarten,  I  have  the  advantage  of  a 
teacher  who  knows  how  to  read  children's  characteristics  of 
temperament  and  imagination  unerringly,  and  to  read  to  them 
naturally.  When  she  reads,  as  she  does,  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
every  day,  for  moral  culture,  she  always  addresses  herself 
to  the  youngest  of  the  class  ;  and  it  is  equally  interesting  to 
the  oldest  of  them.  If  attention  wanders,  she  calls  the  name 
of  the  wanderer  as  if  she  were  talking,  and  the  result  is  the 
most  complete  general  attention.  As  she  never  goes  to  the 
reading  without  having  previously  read  the  lesson  over  to 
herself,  the  book  is  merery  her  note-book  for  discourse  as  it 
were.  Her  favorite  books  are  fables,  fairy  stories,  the  "  He- 
roes of  Asgard,"  Mrs.  Farrar's  "  Robinson  Crusoe,"  "  Sand- 
ford  and  Merton,"  "  Salzmann's  Elements  of  Morality."  This 


56  KINDERGARTEN   GUIDE. 

exercise  is  very  interesting  to  a  spectator  or  listener.  The 
children  are  drawn  up  close  before  her  in  a  solid  square, 
every  eye  seeking  hers  ;  and  their  spontaneous  exclamations 
and  interlocutions  prove  how  completely  she  has  them,  heart 
and  soul,  in  her  keeping  for  the  time  being. 

But  while  by  this  and  other  means,  a  large  measure  of 
moral  and  religious  consciousness  may  be  educated,  we  must 
beware  of  overstraining  in  this  direction.  Children  who  are 
made  too  conscientious  become  timid  and  morally  weak,  and 
often  exhibit  painful  reactions.  Coarse  teachers  often  do 
great  harm,  with  the  best  intentions,  to  finely  strung  moral 
organizations.  Encouragement  to  good  should  altogether 
predominate  over  warning  and  fault-finding.  It  is  often  bet- 
ter, instead  of  blaming  a  child  for  short-coming,  or  even 
wrong-doing,  to  pity  and  sympathize,  and,  in  a  hopeful  voice, 
speak  of  it  as  something  which  the  child  did  not  mean  to  do, 
or  at  least  was  sorry  for  as  soon  as  done  ;  suggesting  at  the 
same  time,  perhaps,  how  it  can  be  avoided  another  time. 
Above  all  things,  an  invariable  rule  in  moral  education  is 
not  to  throw  a  child  upon  self-defence.  The  movement  tow- 
ards defending  one's  self  and  making  excuses,  is  worse  than 
almost  any  act  of  overt  wrong.  Let  the  teacher  always  ap- 
pear as  the  friend  who  is  saving  or  helping  the  child  out  of 
evil,  rather  than  as  the  accuser,  judge,  or  executioner.  An- 
other principle  should  be,  not  to  confound  or  put  upon  the 
same  level  the  trespasses  against  the  by-laws  of  the  Kinder- 
garten, made  for  the  teacher's  convenience,  and  those  against 
the  moral  laws  of  the  universe.  The  desirableness  of  the 
by-laws  that  we  make  for  our  convenience  can  be  shown  at 
times  when  the  children  are  all  calm,  and  their  attention  can 
be  drawn  to  the  subject ;  and  if  these  regulations  are  broken, 
all  that  is  necessary  will  be  to  ask  if  it  is  kind  and  loving 
to  do  such  things  ?  But  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that 
natural  conscience  always  suffers  when  artificial  duties  are 
imposed.  Hence  the  immoral  effect  of  formality  and  super- 
stition. 


KINDERGARTEN   GUIDE.  57 

In  a  well-regulated  Kindergarten  there  should  be  no  pun- 
ishments, but  an  understanding  should  be  had  with  parents 
that  sometimes  the  child  is  to  be  sent  home  for  a  day,  or  at 
least  for  some  hours.  The  curtailment  of  the  Kindergarten 
will  generally  prove  an  effectual  restraint  upon  disorder,  and 
it  will  not  be  necessary  to  repeat  the  penalty  in  a  school  year. 

But  I  shall  say  no  more  upon  moral  and  religious  exer- 
cises, Mrs.  Mann  having  treated  this  part  of  the  subject  so 
exhaustively.  It  is  to  be  remembered,  however,  that  she 
had  in  her  school  children  who  had  strayed  much  farther 
from  the  kingdom  of  heaven  than  those  who  will  generally 
make  up  the  Kindergarten.  But  she  shows  the  spirit  that 
should  pervade  all  that  is  done  to  children  at  all  times. 


3* 


58  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 


CHAPTER  VIH. 

OBJECT   LESSONS. 

I  NOW  come  to  Object  Lessons,  which  should  begin  sim- 
ultaneously with  all  the  above  exercises ;  for  mental  ex- 
ercises are  not  only  compatible  with  physical  health,  but 
necessary  to  it.  The  brain  is  not  to  be  overstrained  in  child- 
hood, but  it  is  to  be  used.  Where  it  is  left  to  itself,  and 
remains  uncultivated,  it  shrinks,  and  that  is  disease.  A 
child  is  not  able  to  direct  its  own  attention  ;  it  needs  the 
help  of  the  adult  in  the  unfolding  of  the  mind,  no  less  than 
in  the  care  of  its  body.  Lower  orders  of  animals  can  edu- 
cate themselves,  that  is,  develop  in  themselves  their  one 
power.  As  the  animals  rise  in  the  scale  of  being,  they  are 
related  more  or  less  to  their  progenitors  and  posterity,  and 
require  social  aid.  But  the  human  being,  whose  beatitude 
is  "  the  communion  of  the  just,"  is  so  universally  related, 
that  he  cannot  go  alone  at  all.  He  is  entirely  dependent 
at  first,  and  never  becomes  independent  of  those  around  him, 
any  further  than  he  has  been  so  educated  and  trained  by 
his  relations  with  them,  as  to  rise  into  union  with  God. 
And  this  restores  him  again  to  communion  with  his  fellow- 
beings,  as  a  beneficent  Power  among  its  peers. 

The  new  method  of  education  gives  a  gradual  series  of 
exercises,  continuing  the  method  of  Nature.  It  cultivates 
the  senses,  by  giving  them  the  work  of  discriminating  colors, 
sounds,  &c. ;  sharpens  perception  by  leading  children  to  de- 
scribe accurately  the  objects  immediately  around  them. 

Objects  themselves,  rather  than  the  verbal  descriptions 
of  objects,  are  presented  to  them.  The  only  way  to  make 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  59 

words  expressive  and  intelligible,  is  to  associate  them  sen- 
sibly with  the  objects  to  which  they  relate.  Children  must 
be  taught  to  translate  things  into  words,  before  they  can 
translate  words  into  things.  Words  are  secondary  in  na- 
ture ;  yet  much  teaching  seems  to  proceed  on  the  principle 
that  these  are  primary,  and  so  they  become  mere  counters, 
and  children  are  brought  to  hating  study,  and  the  discourse  of 
teachers,  instead  of  thirsting  for  them.  To  look  at  objects 
of  nature  and  art,  and  state  their  colors,  forms,  and  properties 
of  various  kinds,  is  no  painful  strain  upon  the  mind.  It  is 
just  what  children  spontaneously  do  when  they  are  first 
learning  to  talk.  It  is  a  continuation  of  learning  to  talk. 
The  object-teacher  confines  the  child's  attention  to  one  thing, 
till  all  that  is  obvious  about  it  is  described ;  and  then  asks 
questions,  bringing  out  much  that  children,  left  to  them- 
selves, would  overlook,  suggesting  words  when  necessary, 
to  enable  them  to  give  an  account  of  what  they  see.  It  is 
the  action  of  the  mind  upon  real  things,  together  with  cloth- 
ing perceptions  in  words,  which  really  cultivates  ;  while  it 
is  not  the  painful  strain  upon  the  brain  which  the  study  of 
a  book  is.  To  translate  things  into  words,  is  a  more  agreea- 
ble and  a  very  different  process  from  translating  words  into 
things,  and  the  former  exercise  should  precede  the  latter. 
If  the  mind  is  thoroughly  exercised  in  wording  its  percep- 
tions, words  will  in  their  turn  suggest  the  things,  without 
painful  effort,  and  memory  have  the  clearness  and  accuracy 
of  perception.  On  the  other  hand  words  will  never  be  used 
without  feeling  and  intelligence.  Then,  to  read  a  book  will 
be  to  know  all  of  reality  that  is  in  it. 

I  am  desirous  to  make  a  strong  impression  on  this  point, 
because,  to  many  persons,  I  find  object-teaching  seems  the 
opposite  of  teaching !  They  say  that  to  play  with  things, 
does  not  give  habits  of  study.  They  think  that  to  commit 
to  memory  a  page  of  description  about  a  wild  duck,  for  in- 
stance, is  better  than  to  have  the  wild  duck  to  look  at,  lead- 
ing the  child  to  talk  about  it,  describe  it,  and  inquire  into 


60  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

its  ways  and  haunts !  They  do  not  see  that  this  study  of 
the  things  themselves  exercises  the  perception,  and  pic- 
turesque memory,  which  is  probably  immortal,  certainly 
perennial,  while  the  written  description  only  exercises  the 
verbal  memory.  Verbal  memory  is  not  to  be  despised ; 
but  it  is  a  consequence,  and  should  never  be  the  substitute 
for  picturesque  memory.  It  is  the  picturesque  memory  only 
which  is  creative. 

There  is  another  and  profound  reason  why  words  should 
follow,  and  not  precede  things,  in  a  child's  memory.  It  will 
have  a  tendency  to  preclude  the  unconscious  sophistry  which 
takes  the  place  of  real  logic  in  so  many  .minds;  and  at  all 
events  will  give  the  power  to  detect  sophistry  ;  for  it  neces- 
sitates the  mind  to  demand  an  image,  or  an  idea,  for  every 
word.  It  gives  the  habit  of  thinking  things  and  principles, 
instead  of  thinking  words  merely ;  —  of  looking  through 
rhetoric  after  truth  and  reality.  There  is  nothing  perhaps 
which  would  conduce  more  to  sound  morality  and  earnest- 
ness of  character,  in  this  country,  than  that  object-teaching, 
as  proposed  in  Mr.  Sheldon's  "  ELEMENTARY  INSTRUC- 
TION," should  pervade  the  primary  schools.  It  would  re- 
quire a  volume  to  go  into  object-teaching,  in  such  detail  as 
to  serve  as  a  manual  for  teachers  ;  and  happily  the  work  of 
Mr.  Sheldon's,  just  named,  precludes  the  necessity  of  my 
doing  so.  It  is  published  broadcast  over  our  northern 
States ;  and  every  teacher,  especially  every  Kindergarten 
teacher,  should  procure  it,  and  give  days  and  nights  to  the 
study  of  it,  until  its  methods  and  matter  are  completely  mas- 
tered. I  have  one  or  two  exceptions  to  take,  in  respect  to 
it  myself,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  sequel ;  yet  I  consider  it  not 
only  an  invaluable  manual,  but  that  it  goes  far  to  supply  the 
place  of  the  training  school  for  teachers  on  the  Pestalozzian 
plan,  "  for  whose  use  I  believe  it  was  primarily  intended." 

Object-teaching  should  precede  as  well  as  accompany  the 
process  of  learning  to  read.  In  Germany,  even  outside  of 
Kindergai-ten,  thinking  schools  have  long  preceded  reading 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  61 

schools,  and  yet  learning  to  read  German,  in  which  every 
sound  is  represented  by  a  different  letter,  and  every  letter 
has  one  sound,  cultivates  the  classifying  powers,  as  learn- 
ing to  read  English  cannot.  With"  children  whose  vernacu- 
lar is  English,  it  is  absolutely  injurious  to  the  mind  to  be 
taught  to  read  the  first  thing.  I  must  speak  of  the  reasons 
of  this  in  another  place,  my  purpose  here  being  to  show 
that  object-teaching  is  necessary,  in  order  to  make  word- 
teaching,  whether  by  teacher's  discourse,  or  by  the  reading 
of  books,  a  means  of  culture  at  any  period. 

Every  child  should  have  the  object  to  examine,  and  in 
turn  each  should  say  what  is  spontaneous.  Out  of  their  an- 
swers series  of  questions  will  be  suggested  to  the  teacher, 
who  should  also  be  prepared  with  her  own  series  of  ques- 
tions, —  questions  full  of  answers. 

The  first  generalization  to  which  children  should  be  led 
is  into  the  animate  and  inanimate, —  what  lives  and  what 
exists  without  manifestation  of  life.  The  next  generaliza- 
tion will  be  into  mineral,  vegetable,  animal,  and  personal. 

But  you  can  begin  with  chairs,  tables,  paper,  cloth, 
&c.,  coming  as  soon  as  possible  to  natural  objects.  Mrs. 
Agassiz's  "  First  Lesson  in  Natural  History "  is  an  excel- 
lent hint.  Sea  anemones,  star-fishes,  clams,  and  oysters  are 
easily  procured.  If  sea  anemones,  taken  into  a  bottle  of 
salt  water,  clinging  to  stones,  look  like  mere  mosses  at 
first,  on  the  second  day  it  is  pretty  certain,  that  in  their 
desire  for  food  they  will  spread  themselves  out,  displaying 
their  inward  parts  in  the  most  beautiful  manner.  Every 
child  in  the  class  should  have  his  turn  at  the  object,  if  there 
are  not  objects  enough  for  each,  —  should  tell  what  he  sees, 
and  be  helped  to  words  to  express  himself.  This,  I  must 
repeat,  is  the  true  way  of  learning  the  meaning  of  words  ; 
and  leaves  impressions,  which  no  dictionary,  with  its  peri- 
phrases and  mere  approximations  to  synonymes  can  give. 
Let  a  child  himself  hammer  out  some  substance  with  a  mal- 
let, and  he  will  never  forget  the  meaning  of  malleable  ;  and 


62  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

so  of  other  words.  As  far  as  possible  we  should  always 
use  Saxon  words,  but  it  is  the  words  that  come  from  the 
Latin  and  Greek,  which  it  is  most  necessary  to  teach  the 
meaning  of;  and  they  should  be  taught  by  things  them- 
selves, which  have  them  for  names  or  qualities. 

A  good  linguist  will  have  an  advantage  here,  by  being 
able  to  trace  the  words  through  the  original  language 
up  to  nature  ;  for  every  word  is,  in  the  last  analysis,  either 
a  picture,  whose  original  in  nature  is  its  definition,  or  a 
poem,  which  can  be  recognized  by  the  general  imagination. 
A  child  whose  vernacular  is  English  will  easily  see  that 
a  bit  is  something  bitten  off,  and  so  is  smaller  than  the 
mouth  ;  but  that  morsel  means  a  bit  is  not  so  obvious  to  one 
who  does  not  know  that  morsus,  also,  is  the  perfect  parti- 
ciple of  the  Latin  verb  for  bite.  That  acute  means  sharp  is 
plainer  to  a  child  who  knows  that  acu  is  the  Latin  for 
needle. 

No  time  is  lost  which  is  given  to  this  definition  of  words 
by  the  objects  of  nature  and  art,  from  which,  or  from  whose 
attributes,  words  are  derived.  In  words  are  fossilized  the 
sciences,  that  is,  the  knowledge  mankind  has  already  attain- 
ed of  nature ;  and  he  who  understands  all  the  words  in  use, 
would  know  all  that  is  known,  nay,  much  that  has  been  once 
known  and  long  forgotten.  But  the  study  of  objects  not  only 
gives  significance  to  words,  it  educates  the  senses,  and  pro- 
duces the  habit  of  original  attention  and  investigation  of 
nature.  These  do  not  come  of  themselves,  as  we  see  in  the 
instance  of  country  children,  who  are  ignorant  of  what  is 
around  them,  because  left  to  grow  up  among  the  objects  of 
nature,  without  having  their  attention  called  to  things  in 
their  minutiae,  or  their  relations  in  extensu ;  nor  led  to 
clothe  with  words  their  perceptions,  impressions,  and  rea- 
sonings. 

Besides  Mr.  Sheldon's  "  Elementary  Instruction,"  there  is 
the  "  Child's  Book  of  Nature,"  by  Worthington  Hooker,  in 
three  parts,  which  will  be  a  great  help  to  an  object-teacher.  It 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  63 

is  published  by  the  Harpers,  and  is  the  very  best  introduction 
of  children  to  flowers.*  Mrs.  Mann's  "  Flower  People  "  is 
also  full  of  facts,  carefully  studied  out.  This  is  a  charming 
book  for  children  to  read  in,  when  they  shall  come  to  read. 
It  is  a  great  pity  that  the  latest  edition,  published  by  Tick- 
nor  and  Fields  in  1862,  is  not  illustrated  by  the  flowers 
spoken  of.  But  perhaps  these  may  be  lithographed,  and 
published  in  a  card-case,  to  accompany  it.  Both  the  science 
and  cultivation  of  flowers  comes  very  naturally  into  the 
Kindergarten. 

The  greatest  difficulty  about  object-teaching  is,  that  it 
requires  personal  training,  and  wide-awake  attention  in 
teachers,  of  a  character  much  more  thorough  than  they  com- 
monly have.  When  it  shall  become  general,  as  it  certainly 
must,  it  will  no  longer  be  supposed  that  any  ordinary  per- 
son who  can  read  and  write,  and  is  obliged  to  do  something 
for  a  living,  will  be  thought  fit  to  keep  a  school  for  small 
children  !  The  present  order  of  things  will  be  reversed. 
Ordinary  persons,  with  limited  acquirements,  will  be  obliged 
to  confine  themselves  to  older  pupils,  who  are  able  to  study 
books  and  only  need  to  have  some  one  to  set  their  lessons 
and  hear  them  recited ;  while  persons  of  originality  and  rich 
culture  will  be  reserved  to  discover  and  bring  out  the  vari- 
ous genius  and  faculty  which  God  has  sown  broadcast  in 
the  field  of  the  race,  and  which  now  so  often  runs  into  the 
rank  vegetation  of  vice,  or  wastes  into  deserts  of  concentrated 
mediocrity.  Then  this  season  of  education  will  command 
the  largest  remuneration,  as  it  will  secure  the  finest  pow- 
ers to  the  work  ;  and  because  such  work  cannot  be  pur- 
sued by  any  one  person  for  many  years,  nor  even  for  a 
short  time  without  assistance,  relieving  from  the  ceaseless 
attention  that  a  company  of  small  children  requires,  for  lit- 
tle children  cannot  be  wound  up  to  go  like  watches  ;  but  to 
keep  them  in  order,  the  teacher  must  constantly  meet  their 
outbursting  life  with  her  own  magnetic  forces  ;  while  their 
*  Gray's  How  Plants  Grow,  is  invaluable  for  a  teacher. 


64  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

employments  must  be  continually  interchanged,  and  mingled 
with  their  recreations. 

Children  ought  to  continue  these  Kindergarten  exercises 
from  the  age  of  three  to  nine ;  and  if  faithfully  taught,  they 
could  then  go  into  what  is  called  scholastic  training,  in  a 
state  of  mind  to  receive  from  it  the  highest  advantages  it  is 
capable  of  giving ;  free  from  the  disadvantages  which  are 
now  so  obvious  as  to  have  raised,  in  our  practical  country,  a 
party  prejudiced  against  classical  education  altogether. 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE,  65 


CHAPTER  IX. 

GEOMETRY. 

REV.  DR.  HILL,  the  present  President  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, in  his  articles  in  Dr.  Barnard's  "  Journal  of  Education," 
has  set  forth  the  importance  of  Geometry  in  the  earliest  edu- 
cation, giving  the  Science  of  Form  precedence  to  that  of 
numbers.  Of  course  he  does  not  mean  that  logical  demon- 
stration is  to  form  one  of  the  exercises  of  little  children  ! 
but  that  observation  of  differences  and  resemblances  of  shape, 
and  the  combination  of  forms,  should  be  inwoven  with  the 
amusements  of  children.  He  invented  a  toy  on  the  princi- 
ple of  the  Chinese  tanagram,  (published  by  Hickling,  Swan 
&  Co.,  in  Boston,)  to  further  an  exercise  which  begins  in  the 
cradle  with  the  examination  of  the  hands  and  feet. 

The  blocks  are  the  first  materials.  Take  the  cube  and 
ask  how  many  faces  it  has  ;  how  many  corners ;  and  whether 
one  face  is  larger  than  another  or  equal ;  and  finally,  lead 
the  child  to  describe  a  cube  as  a  solid  figure  with  six  equal 
sides,  and  eight  corners.  Then  take  a  solid  triangle  from  the 
box  and  draw  out  by  questions  that  it  has  five  sides  and  six 
corners,  that  three  of  its  sides  are  equal,  and  two  others 
equal ;  that  the  three  larger  sides  are  four-sided,  and  the  two 
smaller  sides  are  three-sided ;  and  that  the  corners  are 
sharper  than  those  of  a  cube. 

Make  analogous  use  of  all  the  blocks,  and  of  the  furniture 
of  the  room,  of  the  sphere  and  its  parts,  the  cylinder,  &c. 
Do  not  require  the  definition-formulas  at  first,  but  content 
yourself  with  opening  the  children's  eyes  to  the  facts  which 
the  formula  afterwards  shall  declare. 


66  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

Paper-folding  can  be  made  subservient  to  another  step, 
just  short  of  abstraction. 

Give  each  one  of  a  class  a  square  piece  of  paper,  and 
proceed  thus :  What  is  the  shape  of  this  paper  ?  How 
many  sides  has  it  ?  "Which  is  the  longest  side  ?  How  many 
corners  has  it  ?  Have  in  hand,  already  cut,  several  acute 
and  obtuse  angled  triangles,  and  showing  them,  ask  if  the 
corners  of  the  square  are  like  these  corners  ?  If  they  are  as 
sharp  as  some  of  them  ;  or  as  blunt  as  some  ?  Spreading 
out  the  triangje  before  them  say,  which  is  the  sharpest  cor- 
ner, and  which  the  bluntest  ?  and  let  the  children  compare 
them  with  the  corners  of  the  square,  by  laying  them  upon 
the  square.  They  will  see  that  the  square  corners  are  nei- 
ther blunt  nor  sharp,  but  as  they  will  perhaps  say,  straight". 
Let  them  look  round  the  room,  and  on  the  furniture  and 
window-sashes,  find  these  several  kinds  of  corner.  At  least 
they  can  always  find  right  angles  in  the  furniture.  Then 
tell  them  there  is  another  word  for  corners,  namely,  angles, 
that  a  square  corner  is  a  right  angle,  a  sharp  corner  a  sharp 
angle,  and  a  blunt  corner  a  blunt  angle. 

If  the  teacher  chooses  she  can  go  farther  and  tell  them 
that  acute  is  another  word  for  sharp,  and  obtuse  another  word 
for  blunt ;  (or  these  two  Latin  words  may  be  deferred  till  by 
and  by,  one  new  word  angle  being  enough  to  begin  with.) 

You  can  then  say,  "  Now  tell  me  how  you  describe  a  square, 
supposing  somebody  should  ask  you  that  did  not  know  ; "  and 
give  them  more  or  less  help  to  say :  "  A  square  is  a  figure 
with  four  equal  sides  and  four  straight  corners  (or  right 
angles)."  To  prove  to  them  that  it  is  necessary  to  mention 
the  right  angles  in  describing  a  square,  you  can  make  a  rhom- 
bus, and  show  them  its  different  shape  with  its  acute  and  ob- 
tuse angles.  Having  thus  exhausted  the  description  of  a 
square,  let  every  one  double  up  his  square,  and  so  get  an  ob- 
long. Ask  if  this  is  a  square  ?  "What  is  it  ?  How  does  it 
differ  from  a  square  ?  Are  all  four  sides  different  from  each 
other  ?  Which  sides  are  alike  ?  How  are  the  corners  (or 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  67 

angles)  ?  In  what,  then,  is  it  like  a  square  ?  In  what  does  it 
differ  ?  Bring  out  from  the  child  at  last  the  description  of 
an  oblong,  as  a  four-sided  figure  with  straight  corners  (or 
right  angles),  and  its  opposite  sides  equal.  Contrast  it  with 
some  parallelogram  which  is  not  a  rectangle,  and  which  you 
must  have  ready.  Let  them  now  fold  their  oblongs  again, 
and  crease  the  folds ;  then  ask  them  to  unfold  and  say  what 
they  have,  and  they  will  find  four  squares.  Ask  them 
if  every  square  can  be  folded  so  as  to  make  two  oblongs,  and 
then  if  every  oblong  can  be  so  divided  asa  to  make  two 
squares  ?  If  they  say  yes  to  this  last  question,  give  them 
a  shorter  oblong,  which  you  must  have  ready,  and  having 
made  them  notice  that  it  is  an  oblong,  by  asking  them  to  tell 
whether  its  opposite  sides  are  equal,  and  its  angles  right 
angles,  ask  them  to  fold  it,  and  see  if  it  will  make  two 
squares.  They  will  see  that  it  will  not.  Then  ask  them  if 
all  oblongs  are  of  the  same  shape ;  and  then  if  all  squares 
are  of  the  same  shape  ? 

The  above  foldings  will  be  enough  for  a  lesson,  and  if  the 
children  are  small  it  will  be  enough  for  two  lessons. 

Beginning  the  next  time,  ask  them  what  is  the  difference 
between  an  oblong  and  square  ?  and  if  they  have  forgotten, 
do  not  tell  them  in  words,  but  give  them  square  papers  and  let 
them  learn  it  over  again  as  before,  by  their  own  observations. 
Then  give  them  again  square  pieces  of  paper,  and  ask  them 
to  join  the  opposite  corners,  and  crease  a  fold  diagonally 
(but  do  not  use  the  word  diagonally).  Then  ask  them  what 
shape  they  have  got?  They  will  reply,  a  three-sided  figure. 
Ask  them  how  many  corners  or  angles  it  has,  and  then 
tell  them  that,  on  account  of  its  being  three-cornered,  it  is 
called  a  triangle.  Now  let  them  compare  the  angles,  and 
they  will  find  that  there  is  one  straight  corner  (right  angle) 
and  two  sharp  corners  (acute  angles).  Ask  them  if  the  sides 
are  equal,  and  they  will  find  that  two  sides  are  equal  and  the 
other  side  longer.  Set  up  the  triangle  on  its  base,  so  that 
the  equal  sides  may  be  in  the  attitude  of  the  outstretched 


68  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

legs  of  a  man ;  call  thoir  attention  to  this  by  a  question,  and 
then  say,  on  account  of  this  shape  this  triangle  is  called 
equal-legged,  as  well  as  right-angled  —  a  right-angled  equal- 
legged  triangle.  By  giving  them  examples  to  compare  it 
with,  you  can  demonstrate  to  them  that  all  right-angled  tri- 
angles are  not  equal-legged,  and  all  equal-legged  triangles 
are  not  right-angled.  Show  them  an  equal-legged  right- 
angled  triangle,  an  equal-legged  acute-angled  triangle,  and 
an  equal-legged  obtuse-angled  triangle,  and  this  discrimina- 
tion will  be  obvious.  The  word  isosceles  can  be  introduced, 
if  the  teacher  thinks  best ;  but  I  keep  off  the  Greek  and 
Latin  terms  as  long  as  possible. 

Now  tell  the  children  to  put  together  the  other  two  cor- 
ners of  their  triangles,  laying  the  sharp  corners  on  each  other, 
and  crossing  the  fold ;  unfolding  their  papers  they  will  find 
four  right-angled  equal-legged  triangles  creased  upon  their 
square  paper.  Are  all  these  of  the  same  shape,  and  of  the 
same  size?  Now  fold  the  unfolded  square  into  oblongs,  and 
make  a  crease,  and  they  will  find,  on  unfolding  again,  that 
they  have  six  isosceles  triangles,  two  of  them  being  twice 
as  large  as  any  one  of  the  other  four.  Ask,  are  all  these 
triangles  of  equal  size  ?  Are  all  of  them  similar  in  shape  ? 
leading  them  to  discriminate  the  use  in  geometry  of  the 
words  equal  and  similar.  Can  triangles  be  large  and  small 
without  altering  the  shape  ?  Then  similar  and  equal  mean 
differently  ?  Are  all  squares  similar  ?  are  all  squares  equal  ? 
are  all  triangles  equal  ?  are  all  triangles  similar  ?  "What  is 
the  difference  between  a  square  and  oblong  ?  What  is  the 
difference  between  a  square  and  a  triangle  ?  What  is  the 
difference  between  a  square  and  a  rhombus  ?  What  kind 
of  corners  has  a  rhombus  ?  In  what  is  a  square  like  a 
rhombus  ?  How  do  you  describe  a  triangle  ?  What  is  the 
name  of  the  triangles  you  have  learnt  about  ?  They  will 
answer  right-angled,  equal-legged  triangles.  Then  give  them 
each  a  hexagon,  and  ask  them  what  kind  of  corners  it  has  ? 
Whether  any  one  is  more  blunt  than  another  ?  Whether 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  69 

any  side  is  greater  than  another  ?  How  many  sides  has  it  ? 
And  then  draw  out  from  them  that  a  hexagon  is  a  figure  of 
six  equal  sides,  with  six  obtuse  angles,  just  equal  to  each 
other  in  their  obtuseness.  Having  done  this,  direct  the  fold- 
ing till  they  have  divided  the  hexagon  into  six  triangles, 
meeting  at  the  centre.  Ask  them  if  these  are  right-angled 
triangles,  and  if  they  hesitate,  give  them  a  square  to  measure 
with.  Then  ask  them  if  they  are  equal-legged  (isosceles) 
triangles.  They  may  say  yes,  in  which  case  reply  yes,  and 
more  than  equal-legged,  they  are  equal-sided.  All  three 
sides  are  equal,  and  so  they  have  a  different  name,  —  they  are 
called  equilateral.  Ask,  what  is  the  difference  between  equi- 
lateral and  isosceles,  if  you  have  given  them  these  names, 
and  help  them,  if  necessary,  to  the  answer,  "  equilateral  tri- 
angles have  all  the  sides  equal,  isosceles  triangles  have  only 
two  sides  equal."  Are  equilateral  triangles  all  similar,  that 
is,  of  the  same  shape  ?  Are  isosceles  triangles  all  similar  ? 
and  if  they  hesitate  or  say  yes,  show  two  isosceles  triangles, 
one  with  the  third  side  shorter,  and  one  with  it  longer  than 
the  other  two  sides. 

Now  give  to  each  child  a  square,  and  tell  them  to  fold  it 
so  as  to  make  two  equal  triangles  ;  then  to  unfold  it,  and  fold 
it  into  two  equal  oblongs.  Unfold  it  again,  and  there  will  be 
seen,  beside  the  triangles,  two  other  figures,  which  are  nei- 
ther squares,  oblongs,  or  triangles,  but  a  four-sided  figure  of 
which  no  two  sides  are  equal,  and  only  two  sides  are  parallel, 
with  two  right  angles,  one  obtuse  and  one  acute  angle.  Let 
all  this  be  brought  out  of  the  children  by  questions.  As 
there  is  no  common  name  for  this  figure,  name  it  trapezoid 
at  once.  Then  let  them  fold  the  paper  to  make  two  parallel- 
ograms at  right  angles  with  the  first  two,  and  they  will  have 
two  equal  squares,  and  four  equal  isosceles  triangles,  which 
are  equal  to  the  two  squares.  Now  fold  the  paper  into  two 
triangles,  and  you  will  have  eight  triangles  meeting  in  the 
centre  by  their  vertices,  all  of  which  are  right-angled  and 
equal-legged.  Ask  them  if  they  are  equal-sided  ?  so  as  to 


70  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

keep  them  very  clear  of  confounding  the  isosceles  with  the 
equilateral,  but  use  the  English  terms  as  often  as  the  Latin 
and  Greek,  for  the  vernacular  keeps  the  mind  awake,  while 
the  foreign  technical  puts  it  into  a  passiveness  more  or  less 
'sleepy.  Then  give  all  the  children  octagons,  and  bring  out 
from  them  its  description  by  sides  and  angles ;  and  then  fold 
it  so  as  to  make  eight  isosceles  triangles. 

Another  thing  that  can  be  taught  by  paper-folding  is  to 
divide  polygons,  regular  or  irregular,  into  triangles,  and  thus 
let  them  learn  that  every  polygon  contains  as  many  triangles 
as  it  has  sides,  less  two. 

Proportions  can  also  be  taught  by  letting  them  cut  off  tri- 
angles, similar  in  shape  to  the  wholes,  by  creases  parallel  to 
the  base.  Grund's  "  Plane  Geometry  "  will  help  a  teacher 
to  lessons  on  proportion,  and  can  be  almost  wholly  taught 
by  this  paper-folding.  Also  Professor  Davies's  "  Descriptive 
Geometry,"  and  Hay's  "  Symmetrical  Drawing." 

Of  course  it  will  take  a  teacher  who  is  familiar  with  geom- 
etry to  do  all  that  may  be  done  by  this  amusement,  to 
habituate  the  mind  to  consider  and  compare  forms,  and  their 
relations  to  each  other.  Exercises  on  folding  circles  can  be 
added.  It  would  take  a  volume  to  exhaust  the  subject. 
Enough  has  been  said  to  give  an  idea  to  a  capable  teacher. 
Care  must  be  taken  that  the  consideration  should  be  always 
of  concrete  not  of  abstract  forms.  Mr.  Hill  says  his  "  First 
Lessons  in  Geometry "  were  the  amusements  of  his  son  of 
five  years  old.  Pascal  and  Professor  Pierce  found  out  such 
amusements  for  themselves,  which  had  the  high  end  of  pre- 
paring them  for  their  great  attainments  in  logical  geometry. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  in  a  Kindergarten  these  les- 
sons should  not  be  more  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour  long, 
perhaps  not  more  than  ten  minutes ;  and  that  the  making 
of  paper  windmills  and  boats,  fly-boxes,  and  other  toys  out 
of  folded  paper,  should  occasionally  intervene,  prompting  the 
children  to  inventions  of  their  own.  Sometimes  surprising 
applications  of  their  geometry  to  these  little  mechanical 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  71 

efforts,  will  be  made  by  very  small  people.  A  child  of  eight 
years  of  age,  with  whom  I  read  over  Mr.  Hill's  "  Geometry 
for  Beginners,"  for  his  amusement,  with  practical  provings, 
in  two  months  after  invented  a  self-moving  carriage  for  his 
sister's  dolly,  that  would  give  it  a  ride  of  ten  feet. 


72.  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 


CHAPTER  X. 

ARITHMETIC. 

NOT  only  a  good  deal  of  geometrical  knowledge  can  be 
given  to  children  by  comparing  the  forms  of  blocks  and  fold- 
ing paper,  before  they  know  how  to  read,  but  they  can  learn 
to  count  also.  Blocks,  melon-seeds,  and  sticks  can  be  used. 
The  first  point  is  to  prevent  the  error  of  their  supposing  that 
the  several  units  of  a  number  have  different  numerical  names. 
Put  down  one  block  and  say,  that  is  one.  Then  take  two 
blocks  and  say,  there  are  two.  Then  take  three  and  say,  there 
are  three.  Tell  the  child  to  brfcg  you  two  sticks ;  then  to  go 
and  get  three  sticks.  For  a  considerable  time'let  the  exercise 
be  for  a  child  to  take  out  and  bring  to  you  certain  numbers 
of  blocks.  You  can  then  say  1  and  1  are  2 ;  1  and  1  and 
1  are  3 ;  1  and  1  and  1  and  1  are  4 ;  and  when  the  number 
comes  to  be  8  or  9,  you  can  help  the  child  by  telling  him 
'first  to  make  the  pile  2,  and  then  to  make  it  3,  and  then  to 
make  it  4,  and  so  on.  Thus  he  will  learn  that  2  and  1  are 
3,  3  and  1  are  4,  &c.  It  will  sometimes  be  wise  to  take 
something  else  than  blocks  to  count ;  melon-seeds,  or  little 
sticks ;  and  by  and  by  they  can  be  asked  to  think  of  ono 
apple  in  one  hand,  and  two  apples  in  the  other  hand,  and 
say  what  number  of  apples  there  would  be  if  they  were  put 
into  one  pile.  If  there  is  no  hurry  at  all,  even  the  slowest 
child  can  be  carried  along  in  this  gradual  manner,  without 
painful  confusion  of  mind,  and  the  life-long  aversion  that 
sometimes  arises  to  arithmetical  calculation  be  prevented. 
After  children  ha've  learnt  to  count  as  far  as  100,  it  is 
well  to  introduce  multiplication,  which  they  must  see  to  be 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  73 

addition  of  equal  numbers ;  and  I  advise  that  the  multiplica- 
tion table  should  be  learnt  perpendicularly,  but  without  the 
use  of  figures.  Thus  let  them  say  twice  1,  three  times  1, 
4  times  1,  &c. ;  twice  2,  three  times  2,  4  times  2,  &c.,  up  to 
10  times  2,  before  it  is  learnt  in  the  usual  way,  (twice  1, 
twice  2,  twice  3,  &c.)  Let  them  have  objects  to  help  along 
at  first.  Thus  children  will  learn  the  substance  of  the  mul- 
tiplication, addition,  and  subtraction  tables  before  they  learn 
to  read.  Sometimes  it  is  necessary  to  postpone  it,  children's 
minds  unfold  so  differently.  We  can  exercise  memory  by 
repetition.  But  reason  cannot  be  hurried.  We  should  take 
care  that  the  memory  of  results  should  not  take  the  place 
of  numerical  apprehension,  which  is  an  act  of  reason.  And 
written  arithmetic  should  be  postponed  till  the  habit  of 
mental  calculation  is  fully  formed.  Warren  Colburn  dis- 
covered and  established  the  method  of  nature  in  his  primary 
book,  and  no  variation  from  his  principle  is  to  be  thought  of. 
The  teacher  should  consult  Mr.  Sheldon's  book,  which  has 
a  fine  series  of  the  earliest  exercises. 

Another  thing  that  children  can  learn  practically  is  the 
tables  of  measurement.  Let  the  teacher  have  gill,  pint, 
quart,  and  gallon  measures  ;  and  let  the  children  themselves 
fill  up  the  gallon  with  the  quart  measure,  the  quart  with  the 
pint  measure,  the  pint  with  the  gill  measure,  till  they  have 
the  table  well  by  heart.  Then  let  them  have  other  vessels, 
of  various  capacity,  and  guess  how  much  they  will  hold,  and 
then  measure  and  see.  This  is  very  entertaining,  and  edu- 
cates a  power.  So  they  can  have  an  inch  measure  divided 
into  its  three  barleycorns ;  a  nail  divided  into  its  inches ;  a 
quarter  of  a  yard  divided  into  nails ;  a  yard  divided  into  its 
feet ;  and  learn  to  measure  the  furniture  and  judge  of  sizes. 
Again  there  can  be  the  weights  of  troy  weight,  and  of  avoir- 
dupois weight,  and  a  pair  of  scales,  and  the  children  learn  to 
weigh  in  their  hands. 

By  the  blocks  which  are  divided  into  halves  and  quarters, 
and  by  these  weights  and  measures,  some  idea  of  fractions 
4 


74  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

may  be  given,  and  by  means  of  eagles,  dollars,  dimes,  cents, 
and  a  piece  of  paper  representing  a  mill,  the  foundation  of 
decimal  numeration  can  be  laid  in  the  mind. 

But  as  I  have  so  frequently  said,  let  the  teacher  beware 
of  premature  abstraction  with  children,  and  be  careful,  es- 
pecially in  geometry,  of  inadvertencies  of  expression  herself. 
I  would  suggest  she  should  always  say  curve  and  not  curved 
line.  A  line  is  length  in  one  direction ;  a  curve  always 
changes  the  direction  of  the  instrument  making  it.  This 
verbal  discrimination  prevents  a  great  deal  of  verbiage. 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  75 


CHAPTER  XL 

READING. 

AFTER  children's  minds  have  been  opened  by  object- 
teaching,  and  indeed,  simultaneously  with  all  the  above- 
described  Kindergarten  employments  and  recreations,  I  be- 
gin to  teach  reading,  which  also  comes  legitimately  within 
the  Kindergarten  culture. 

But,  as  I  have  hinted  before,  I  consider  learning  to  read 
English  a  somewhat  unfortunate  process  for  the  mind  of  a 
child.  On  account  of  the  irregularity  of  what  is  called 
English  orthoepy  and  orthography,  the  written  language  is 
a  chaos  —  into  which,  when  the  child's  mind  is  introduced 
in  the  usual  way,  all  its  natural  attempts  at  classification  are 
baffled.  The  late  Horace  Mann,  in  a  lecture  on  the  alpha- 
bet, has  with  great  humor  and  perspicacity  shown  this  ;  and 
he  recommended  that  children  should  be  taught  to  read  by 
words  purely.  But  when  some  years  afterwards  his  atten- 
tion was  drawn  to  the  phonic  method,  he  accepted  it  fully ; 
and  wrote  for  Mrs.  Mann  the  preface  to  her  Philadelphia 
edition  of  the  Primer  of  Reading  and  Drawing.  This  was 
not  until  after  it  had  been  tested  in  his  own  family  and  some 
others,  where  I  had  introduced  the  phonic  method. 

On  the  details  of  my  method  I  must  enlarge  all  the  more, 
becau.se  I  find  myself  differing  in  some  respects  from  Mr. 
Sheldon's  plan,  which  loses  a  large  part  of  the  advantages 
of  the  phonic  method  by  not  having  one  definite  sound  for 
each  letter.  As  I  have  taught  on  my  plan  successfully  for 
fifteen  years,  I  am  prepared  to  defend  it  at  all  points,  from 
the  ground  of  a  various  experience.  But  I  can  adduce  also 


76  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

the  highest  philologic  authority  for  my  mode  of  sounding  the 
alphabet,*  as  well  as  an  argument  of  common  sense  from  the 
nature  of  the  case. 

The  primal  cause  of  the  chaotic  condition  of  English 
orthography,  is  the  fact  that  the  Roman  alphabet,  which  was 
a  perfect  phonography  of  the  old  Latin  language,  lacked 
characters  for  four  English  vowels  and  four  English  conso- 
nants. The  Latin  monks  had  not  the  wit  to  invent  new 
characters  for  these  additional  sounds ;  but  undertook  to  use 
the  Roman  letters  for  them  also.  Hence  for  the  vowel  heard 
in  the  words  irk,  err,  work,  and  urge,  they  used  indifferently 
all  four  characters ;  for  truly  one  would  do  as  well  as  another. 
But  if  they  had  put  a  dot  into  the  middle  of  the  o,  and  added 
it  to  the  alphabet,  it  would  have  been  better  than  either. 
Also,  if  for  the  vowel  sound  of  pun,  they  had  put  a  dot 
under  the  u  ;  and  for  the  vowel  sound  of  man,  they  had  put 
a  dot  under  the  a ;  and  for  the  vowel  sound  of  not,  a  dot 
under  the  o  ;  they  would  have  had  four  more  letters  in  their 
alphabet,  which  would  have  completed  the  phonography  of 
the  English  vowels.  Similar  dots  under  d  t  s  c  would  have 
made  a  phonography  of  consonants,  and  avoided  the  awkward 
combinations  of  sh,  ch,  and  the  ambiguity  of  th,  which  now 
stands  for  the  differing  initials  of  then  and  thin. 

But  as  they  did  not  do  this,  a  certain  divorce  took  place 
between  the  ideas  of  the  sounds  and  the  letters  ;  and  hence 
the  long  uncertainty  of  the  English  orthography,  and  the 
stereotyped  absurdities  which  now  mark  it. 

It  is  so  nearly  impossible  to  remedy  a  difficulty  which  has 
passed  into  print  so  largely,  that  we  have  to  accept  the  evil, 
and  remedy  as  best  we  may  the  disadvantage  it  is  to  young 
minds  to  have  all  this  confusion  presented  to  them  on  the 
threshold  of  their  literary  education.f 

*  See  the  North  American  Review  of  January  and  April  —  articles 
Kraitsir's  Significance  of  the  Alphabet,  from  the  pen  of  an  eminent 
philologist;  also  Kraitsir's  Nature  of  Language  and  Language  of  Na- 
ture, published  in  1851,  by  George  P.  Putnam  in  New  York. 

t  The  oqly  possible  advantage  the  present  spelling  has,  is  the  help  it 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  77 

It  was  suggested  to  me  by  Dr.  Kraitsir,  that  I  should  take  a 
volume  of  any  book,  and  count  the  times  that  each  of  the  vow- 
els, and  c  and  g,  were  sounded  as  the  Romans  sounded  them, 
and  how  many  times  they  were  sounded  otherwise,  and  thus 
see  whether  it  was  true,  as  he  said,  that  these  Roman  sounds 
were  the  most  frequent,  even  in  the  English  language.  I 
did  so  on  a  few  pages  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  novels,  and  found 
that  the  letter  i  sounded  as  in  ink  240  times,  to  one  that  it 
sounded  as  in  bind;  and  though  the  proportion  was  not  quite 
so  great  with  any  other  vowel,  yet  there  was  a  large  majority 
for  the  Roman  sound,  in  each  instance,  as  well  as  for  the 
hard  sounds  of  c  and  g.  Indeed  I  found  g  was  hard,  even 
before  e  and  i,  in  the  case  of  every  Saxon  word ;  and  that 
all  the  soft  gs,  which  are  not  many,  were  derived  from  the 
Norman-French. 

I  then  set  myself  to  find  what  words  in  English  were 
written  entirely  with  the  Roman-sounding  letters ;  and,  to 
my  surprise,  found  a  large  number,  —  enough  to  fill  a  pri- 
mary spelling-book  ;  —  while  most  of  the  syllables  of  the  rest 
of  the  words  in  the  language  yielded  on  analysis  the  same 
sounds.  It  immediately  occurred  to  me  to  begin  to  teach 
children  to  read  by  these  words,  whose  analysis  would  always 
yield  them  the  Roman  sounds,  and  reserve,  till  afterwards, 
the  words  which  are  exceptions,  leaving  the  anomalies  to  be 
learnt  by  rote. 

I  tried  my  first  experiment  on  a  child  a  little  more  than, 
four  years  old,  by  printing  on  a  black-board  certain  words, 
letter  by  letter,  until  he  had  learned  the  whole  alphabet, 
both  to  know  each  character  at  sight,  and  to  print  it  on  the 
black-board,  and  it  was  a  signal  success. 

For  the  convenience  of  those  who  do  not  know  the  old  Ro- 
man pronunciation  of  Latin,  for  which  our  alphabet  is  a  per- 
fect phonography,  I  will  give  the  sounds  of  the  letters  here. 

gives  to  Etymologists,  but  it  also  often  confuses  them.  A  perfect  alpha- 
bet, that  is,  an  alphabet  with  eight  more  characters  than  the  Roman, 
would  have  been  the  right  thing  to  have  had  in  the  right  place  and  time. 


78  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

In  the  case  of  the  vowels  (voice  letters), 

i  is  pronounced  ih  as  in  ink,  (not  eye.) 

e  "  eh  as  in  ell,  (not  as  in  be.) 

a  "  ah  as  in  arm,  (not  as  in  may.) 

o  "  oh  as  in  old, 

u  "  uh  as  in  ruin,  (not  as  in  unit.) 

in  the  case  of  the  consonants,  giving  the  power  of  the  letter 
by  making  them  finals,  and  obscuring  the  e  as  much  as  pos- 
sible for  the  lip  letters,  eb,  ef,  ep,  ev,  while  the  semi- vowels 
m,  n,  1,  r,  require  not  even  the  obscure  e  to  their  being 
sounded  perfectly,  shutting  the  lips  and  sounding  m,  opening 
them  and  shutting  the  palate  to  sound  n,  holding  the  tongue 
still  to  sound  1,  shaking  it  to  sound  r,  (el,  em,  en,  er ; )  the 
tooth  letters  ed,  et,  ess,  ezz  —  and  the  throat  letters  ec,  ek, 
eq,*  eg,  and  a  breathing  from  the  throat  for  h.  Often  chil- 
dren will  come  to  the  Kindergarten  knowing  the  letters,  in 
which  case  it  is  best  to  begin  with  the  letters  according  to 
the  organs,  as  is  suggested  in  my  first  chapter,  and  when  they 
give  the  old  names  —  you  can  say,  "  No,  I  do  not  want  that 
name  but  the  sound." 

The  whole  alphabet  in  order  will  then  be  ah,  eb,  ec,  ed, 
eh,  ef,  eg,  h  (breathed),  ih,  ej,  ek,  el,  em,  en,  oh,  ep,  eq,  er, 
ess,  et,  uh  (oo)  ev,  w  (breathed)  ex,  y,  just  like  ih,  and  not 
called  wye,  ez.  Also  the  sign  &  for  the  word  and. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  this  book,  I  have  detailed  one 
method  of  beginning  with  a  class,  —  that  of  giving  the  sounds 
of  the  letters  first,  classed  according  to  the  organs. 

But  my  common  way  is  to  begin  with  whole  words,  which 
are  more  sure  to  interest  a  child.  A  limited  number  of 

*  k,  q,  and  y  were  not  Roman  letters  but  Greek  ones,  k  being  introduced 
into  the  Latin  originally  as  an  abbreviation  of  ca  and  q  as  an  abbreviation 
of  cu.  J  and  x  were  introduced  into  our  alphabet  by  the  first  printers, 
but  we  have  appropriated  j  to  a  new  sound,  not  in  the  Latin  language ; 
and  we  have  two  sounds  for  x,  (as  printed  Latin  has),  one  being  gs  and 
the  other  cs.  The  Latins  at  first  wrote  lex  legs,  and  vox  vocs,  as  we  see 
by  the  variations  of  these  nouns  for  case. 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  79 

words  arranged  in  sentences,  teaches  them  to  know  and 
write  the  whole  alphabet.  For  the  convenience  of  teachers 
who  may  not  have  either  my  "  First  Nursery  Reading-Book." 
or  Mrs.  Mann's  "  Primer  of  Reading  and  Drawing  "  ON  hand, 
I  will  give  here  some  sentences  that  contain  the  whole  al- 
phabet, which  the  teacher  can  teach  by  printing  them  on  the 
black-board,  and  letting  the  children  imitate  them  with  pencil 
on  the  slate,  or  chalk  on  the  black-board. 

O  puss,  puss,  pussy ;  O  kitty,  kitty,  kitty ;  Kitty  sings 
miu,  miu  ;  pussy  sings  mieaou ;  pussy  is  old,  pussy  is  cold  ; 
put  pussy  into  mamma's  basket ;  mamma  is  singing  to  papa  ; 
papa  is  kissing  mamma  ;  pussy,  go  to  kitty,  go,  go,  go ;  kitty  is 
in  mamma's  basket ;  go  into  mamma's  garden,  and  pick  roses, 
anemones,  tulips,  and  pinks  ;  mamma's  velvet  dress  fits  well ; 
bells  ring  and  cars  go  ;  cars  go  very  quickly ;  hens  sit ;  hens 
eggs  ;  eggs  in  lark's  nest ;  eggs'in  linnet's  nest ;  larks  sing 
tralala,  tralala ;  fill  mamma's  basket  full  of  roses,  anemones, 
pinks,  tulips,  crocuses  ;  Lizzy  is  dizzy,  very  dizzy  ;  Helen  is 
rosy  red  ;  Alexis  sent  his  mamma  a  jar  full  of  jelly ;  Barbara 
kisses  Cora ;  Dora  is  spinning  yarn  ;  Flora  is  spinning  yarn  ; 
Gilbert  sent  Henry  a  jar  of  guava  jelly ;  Isabella  is  kissing 
Julia ;  Karlito  sent  a  linnet's  egg  to  Lilian  ;  Margaret  picks 
roses  ;  Nina  picks  tulips  in  Olivia's  garden  ;  Penelope  plants 
pinks  in  Ellen's  garden;  Rosalind  sings  to  Quasi-modo; 
Susan  puts  eggs  into  mamma's  basket ;  Tina  brings  roses  to 
Vrvian ;  Willy  brings  crocuses  to  mamma. 

The  above  sentences,  written  over  and  over  again,  will 
teach  all  the  letters ;  others  must  be  added,  but  after  certain 
letters  are  learnt,  it  is  useful,  and  a  pleasant  variety,  for  the 
children  to  write  columns  of  words,  with  only  one  letter  dif- 
fering ;  thus,  old,  cold,  fold,  gold,  hold,  sold,  told,  wold ;  ell, 
bell,  dell,  fell,  hell,  quell,  sell,  tell,  well ;  art,  cart,  dart,  hart, 
mart,  part,  tart,  start ;  in,  binn,  din,  fin,  jin,  kin,  pin,  sin,  tin, 
win,  &c.,  &c. 

My  "  First  Nursery  Reading-Book  "  is  entirely  made  up  of 
such  columns,  after  half  a  dozen  pages  of  words  in  sentences  ; 


80  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

and  long  before  the  children  have  written  it  half  through, 
they  can  pronounce  the  words  on  first  sight,  though  many 
of  them  are  five  and  six  syllables  long. 

And  here  I  must  foreclose  some  criticisms  which  have 
been  made  on  this  book. 

First,  —  that  the  sentences  are  not  interesting  or  impor- 
tant. That  is  of  no  moment.  Children  are  interested  in 
separate  words  ;  especially  if  they  are  to  write  them  as  well 
as  read  them.  I  have  never  seen  children  tired  of  the  words, 
and  of  making  them. 

Some  persons  have  disputed  the  pronunciation  of  some  of 
the  words.  There  are,  perhaps,  half  a  dozen  inadvertencies 
in  the  book  which  can  be  corrected  in  a  second  edition. 

I  indicate  no  difference  between  the  s  when  it  is  sounded 
sharp,  and  when  soft  like  z.  But  I  think  this  will  never 
lead  to  any  practical  error ;  'because  the  language  is  vernac- 
ular, and  the  child  has  a  teacher. 

I  affirm  that  the  article  a  is  sounded  ah  in  the  spoken  lan- 
guage, for  it  is  not  accented.  Also  that  in  such  words  as 
deject,  reject,  &c.,  the  two  e's  sound  alike,  like  most  unac- 
cented e's  in  the  language. 

For  a  time,  there  is  no  need  for  the  children  to  have  a 
book  at  all.  Let  them  have  a  lesson  fifteen  minutes  long  in 
which  they  write  the  words  after  the  dictation  of  the  teacher. 

Let  the  written  words  remain  on  the  black-board,  and  after 
some  other  employments  have  intervened,  let  them  read  the 
words  off  the  black-board. 

When  they  have  mastered  all  the  letters,  it  is  a  good  plan 
to  give  them  the  book,  and  let  them  find  the  words.  Show- 
ing them  a  line,  ask  them  to  look  along  and  find  a  certain 
word. 

They  will  be  pleased  to  find  that  they  can  read  in  a  book, 
and  will  like  to  copy  on  their  slates  the  columns  of  words, 
which  may  be  made  another  exercise  of  a  quarter  of  an 
hour.  In  my  Kindergarten,  they  write  the  words,  after  the 
teacher,  on  their  black-boards ;  and  afterwards  write  out  of 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  81 

the  printed  books  upon  the  slate.  I  have  hitherto  had  more 
time,  in  proportion,  given  to  the  reading  than  my  own  judg- 
ment quite  approves ;  because  parents  are  so  urgent,  and 
measure  their  children's  progress  so  exclusively  by  their 
power  of  reading ;  and,  if  they  do  not  learn  a  great  deal 
faster  than  children  usually  learn  to  read,  distrust  the  sys- 
tem, and  interfere. 

Even  if  this  method  did  prove  longer  than  other  methods 
of  learning  to  read,  I  should  wish  to  pursue  it,  because  to 
find  that  the  same  letter  always  represents  the  same  sound, 
cultivates  the  mind's  power  of  classification,  and  gives  it 
confidence  in  its  own  little  reasoning.  But  I  have  found 
that  it  is  a  shorter,  not  a  longer,  process.  I  have  known 
a  child  of  three  years  old,  who  was  found  to  know  how  to 
read,  when  there  was  no  thought  of  teaching  him,  but  his 
brother  of  five  years  old  had  been  taught  to  read  upon  the 
black-board  in  his  presence.  A  child  of  seven  years  old 
learnt  to  read  and  write  print  beautifully,  in  three  months,  in 
lessons  of  ten  minutes,  given  only  when  she  asked  for  them. 
And  in  those  cases  there  was  not  the  additional  advantage 
of  a  class.  Several  children  in  my  own  Kindergarten,  in 
my  first  season,  when  I  never  gave  half  an  hour  in  the  day  to 
reading,  not  only  mastered  my  first  Nursery  Reading-Book, 
but  got  upon  the  anomalous  words,  and  learnt  to  read  so  far, 
that  the  second  season  they  could  read  fluently.  If  as 
much  time  was  given,  in  the  Kindergarten,  to  mere  reading, 
as  is  given  in  the  public  schools,  they  would,  doubtless,  have 
learnt  in  three  months,  but  I  would  not  give  the  time ;  for 
I  believe  it  is  so  much  better  for  the  whole  nature,  i.  e.,  all 
the  powers  of  sense  and  apprehension,  to  be  cultivated  by 
examining  objects. 

I  have  also  another  difficulty  to  contend  with.  Children 
are  taught  their  letters  at  home,  and  the  parents  interfere  to 
help,  and  really  hinder  by  bringing  in  the  old  sounds  of  the 
letters  and  the  anomalous  words,  before  I  am  ready  for 
them.  There  is  no  objection  to  the  children's  having  the 
4* 


82  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

First  Nursery-Book  at  home  to  use  and  copy  on  their  slates, 
provided  those  at  home  will  confine  themselves  to  pronounc- 
ing the  words  to  them  instead  of  attempting  to  spell  them. 

The  question,  however,  comes  at  last,  But  how  are  they  to 
attain  the  rest  of  the  language  ?  Before  I  had  any  expe- 
rience, I  myself  thought  this  was  to  be  a  great  difficulty. 
In  the  first  instance,  after  I  had  brought  my  little  pupil 
to  the  point  that  he  could  print  correctly  any  word  that  I 
pronounced  to  him,  and  could  read  at  sight  any  of  my 
selected  words,  I  gave  him  a  piece  of  poetry  to  read,  be- 
ginning — 

"  Sleep,  baby,  sleep." 

He  read  it  slay-ape  bahby,  slay-ape. 

I  said,  "  No,  that  first  word  is  sleep"  He  was  surprised, 
and  wondered  why  it  was  written  so. 

I  said,  "  Perhaps  they  used  to  say  slayape,  but  they  say 
sleep  now ;  and  in  books  there  are  a  good  many  such 
words.  Now  I  will  rub  out  si  (I  pronounced  this  combi- 
nation with  one  impulse  of  the  voice)  and  put  a  w,  and 
say,  now,  what  is  that  ?  "  "  O,  That  is  weep."  Now  I  rub- 
bed out  the  w,  and  put  d.  He  immediately  said,  "  That 
is  deep."  I  said,  "  Now  you  write  sleep,  and  under  it 
put  weep,  deep,  peep,  keep,  steep,  sweep,  creep."  He  did 
so,  at  once,  and  then  he  took  great  pleasure  in  getting  a 
paper  and  lead-pencil,  and  writing  the  whole  column, 
which,  of  course,  he  never  forgot.  I  proceeded  in  the 
same  manner,  till  he  had  not  only  written  all  the  song, 
but  all  the  analogues  of  each  word,  —  and  it  was  wonderful 
how  soon  he  could  read.  The  scientific  habit  of  mind 
•which  was  attained  by  classing  the  words  as  he  learned 
them,  has  shown  itself  throughout  his  education.  He 
never  learned  a  so-called  spelling-lesson,  but  he  scarcely 
ever  wrote  a  word  wrongly  spelled ;  and  it  has  been 
a  uniform  observation  that  children  taught  on  this 
method  always  write  without  errors.  Each  variation  from 
the  standard  so  strongly  fixed  in  their  minds  makes  a 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  83 

great  impression;  and  to  write  the  words  in  groups,  makes 
these  anomalies  remembered  in  groups. 

In  my  own  Kindergarten,  I  give  to  my  class  "  Mother 
Goose's  Melodies."  They  know  many  of  them  by  heart ; 
but  I  make  them  sit  in  class,  and  each,  in  turn,  read  one 
word,  in  order  to  teach  them  to  keep  the  place,  and  when 
they  finish  a  verse,  I  ask  them  to  find  some  word,  and 
often  make  it  the  nucleus  of  a  group  of  words  of  the 
same  kind,  to  be  written  upon  the  black-board  and  slates 
as  above.  But  I  think  it  is  a  good  plan,  before  giving  a 
book,  to  call  their  attention  to  the  initial  sounds  of  thin, 
then,  shin,  chin,  and  ask  them  what  letter  stands  for  these. 
Of  course  they  will  say  they  do  not  know.  Then  you  can 
say  "  There  is  none ;  for  the  people  who  made  these  letters 
did  not  have  these  sounds  in  their  language ;  and  so,  when 
they  came  to  write  English,  they  put  a  t  and  h  together  to 
stand  for  one  sound ;  and  c  and  h  for  another ;  and  s  and 
h  for  another." 

Lists  of  words  should  then  be  dictated  and  written  :  such 
as  thin,  think,  thing,  thrift,  thrill,  thick,  bath,  lath,  doth,  sloth, 
quoth,  pith,  smith,  fifth,  filth,  width,  depth,  tenth,  truth, 
thresh,  threshold,  methodist,  synthetic,  pathetic,  cathartic, 
then,  them,  with,  this,  hither,  thither,  nether,  tether,  hither- 
to, farthing,  withhold,  brethren,  char,  chart,  charm,  chaff, 
chant,  larch,  march,  parch,  starch,  chest,  chess,  chin,  chick, 
chill,  chit,  chink,  chintz,  rich,  chirrup,  inch,  pinch,  clinch, 
flinch,  winch,  finch,  filch,  milch,  clinch,  trench,  bench, 
wrench,  quench,  shin,  ship,  sharp,  shark,  shed,  shell,  shelf, 
shaft,  shorn,  shred,  shrift,  shrimp,  shrill,  flesh,  mesh,  fresh, 
dish,  fish,  wish,  harsh,  marsh,  sheriff,  shiver,  relish,  cherish, 
perish,  freshet,  finish,  prudish,  bluish,  garnish,  tarnish,  var- 
nish, blemish,  refresh.  Attention  can  then  be  called  to  the 
words  beginning  with  wh,  which  are  pronounced  (as  they 
were  written  in  Saxon)  by  uttering  the  h  before  the  w  ;  as 
when,  whet,  whelk,  whelp,  whelm,  wherry,  whiz,  whig,  whip, 
whiff,  whist,  whisk,  whirl,  which,  whimper,  pronounced 
hwen,  hwet,  &c. 


84  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

I  suppose  I  need  not  say  that  the  consideration  of  one  of 
the  extra  consonants  will  be  enough  for  one  lesson. 

The  next  step  is  to  learn  the  diphthongs,  that  is,  the  proper 
—  which  I  consider  the  only  —  diphthongs.  Make  the  children 
pronounce  oi,  and  see  that  two  sounds  are  slid  together ;  and 
then  let  them  write  on  their  slates,  in  different  columns,  boil, 
coil,  foil,  soil,  toil,  moil,  spoil,  coin,  join,  groin,  point,  joint, 
joist,  hoist,  foist,  moist,  cloister,  surloin,  exploit,  void,  &c. ; 
also  boy,  coy,  joy,  toy,  cloy,  loyal,  royal,  envoy,  enjoy,  &c. 

Then  let  them  pronounce  the  diphthong  ou,  and  write  in 
one  column  the  words  out,  our,  thou,  loud,  proud,  cloud, 
noun,  bound,  found,  hound,  mound,  pound,  round,  sound, 
wound,  bout,  clout,  flout,  lout,  gout,  pout,  rout,  sprout,  spout, 
shout,  snout,  stout,  mouth,  south,  couch,  crouch,  slouch,  pouch, 
vouch,  roundabout,  bounty,  county,  amount,  abound,  scoundrel, 
discount,  expound,  about,  &c. ;  and  in  another,  how,  cow,  bow, 
mow,  now,  vow,  owl,  scowl,  brow,  prow,  howl,  gown,  brown, 
crown,  drown,  cowl,  fowl,  crowd,  clown,  frown,  vowel,  towel, 
trowel,  prowess.  Call  attention  to  the  proper  diphthong,  which 
we  write  with  what  we  call  i  long,  (but  it  is  no  sound  of  Ih 
at  all,)  and  which  the  Romans  wrote  as  a  diphthong  with  two 
letters,  ae  and  ai,  pronouncing  it  as  we  do  the  i  in  ire.  Then 
let  them  write  in  columns  bind,  find,  grind,  hind,  blind,  kind, 
mind,  rind,  wind,  violet,  dialect,  inquiry,  horizon,  &c. 

This  same  diphthong  is  also  written  with  the  Greek  y,  — 
in  my,  thy,  cry,  try,  fry,  wry,  fly,  ply,  asylum,  dynasty,  pet- 
rify, signify,  vilify,  vivify,  simplify,  rectify,  edify,  notify,  &c. 

Call  attention  lastly,  to  the  diphthong  yu,  written  first 
with  the  letter  u  simply,  as  in  unit,  humid,  fuel,  cubic,  stupid, 
putrid,  mutual,  funeral,  singular,  bitumen,  acumen,  nutri- 
ment; and  secondly  with  ew,  as  few,  chew,  pew,  new,  mew, 
mewl,  eschew,  sinew  ;  thirdly  with  iew,  as  view  ;  fourthly  with 
eu,  as  in  eulogy,  European,  &c. ;  sometimes  with  eau,  as  in 
beauty  and  its  compounds. 

There  is  no  propriety  in  calling  au  a  diphthong,  as  it  is  one 
sound,  and  not  two  sounds.  It  is  one  of  the  extra  vowels  of 


KINDERGARTEN   GUIDE.  85 

the  English  language,  written  when  short  with  o  (though  it 
is  no  sound  of  o  proper)   a,  aw,  and  oa. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  extra  vow 
els,  beginning  with  this  sound  heard  short  in  not,  and  long  in 
the  name  of  a  carpenter's  tool,  awl. 

Explain  that  there  is  no  character  for  this  vowel  in  the 
Roman  alphabet,  because  the  sound  was  not  in  the  Latin 
language,  and  then  proceed  to  show  how  it  is  writ- 
ten in  various  ways:  first  with  an  o,  as  in  bob,  cob, 
fob,  gob,  job,  mob,  nob,  rob,  sob,  cock,  dock,  hock,  lock, 
clock,  flock,  mock,  pock,  frock,  rock,  crock,  shock,  sock, 
cod,  hod,  nod,  pod,  odd,  shod,  rod,  sod,  trod,  doff,  off,  of,  (pro- 
nounced ov,)  cog,  dog,  fog,  hog,  jog,  log,  nog,  doll,  loll,  poll, 
on,  don,  ton,  pond,  fond,  blond,  won,  fop,  drop,  crop,  lop, 
mop,  pop,  sop,  top,  chop,  shop,  stop,  swop,  prop,  ox,  box, 
fox,  pox,  moth,  loth,  froth,  broth,  lot,  cot,  dot,  got,  hot,  jot, 
not,  pot,  rot,  sot,  tot,  wot,  grot,  clot,  shot,  spot,  boss,  cross, 
dross,  floss,  loss,  moss,  toss,  gloss,  cost,  frost,  lost,  tost,  bond, 
fond,  pond,  pomp,  romp.  Then  show  that  it  is  written 
sometimes  with  an  a,  as  in  all,  fall,  call,  hall,  gall,  tall, 
wall,  small,  stall,  ball,  thrall,  squall,  squash,  squad,  squat, 
quart,  war,  dwarf,  scald,  bald,  salt,  halt,  swab,  ward,  sward, 
warn,  warp,  warm,  wand,  want,  was,  wast,  wash,  swan,  watch, 
swamp,  waltz,  wasp ;  sometimes  with  au,  as  in  daub,  fraud, 
gaudy,  fault,  vault,  paunch,  craunch,  laurel,  haul,  caul,  maul, 
augury,  autumnal ;  and  sometimes  with  aw,  as  in  caw,  daw, 
draw,  haw,  hawk,  jaw,  law,  maw,  paw,  claw,  straw,  raw, 
thaw,  squaw,  saw,  flaw,  awl,  shawl,  bawl,  brawn,  drawn, 
awning,  tawny,  awkward,  tawdry,  sawyer,  mawkish,  lawful ; 
also  with  oa  in  broad. 

Another  extra  vowel,  heard  in  the  word  man,  is  written, 
in  default  of  a  character  for  it,  with  a,  as  in  cab,  dab,  gab, 
jab,  nab,  hack,  back,  jack,  lack,  pack,  rack,  crack,  clack, 
black,  bad,  gad,  glad,  had,  lad,  mad,  pad,  sad,  shad,  bag,  cag, 
fag,  gag,  hag,  lag,  nag,  rag,  crag,  shag,  sag,  tag,  wag,  mall,  shall, 
am,  dam,  flam,  ham,  sham,  jam,  an,  ban,  can,  fan,  clan,  man, 


86  KINDERGARTEN"  GUIDE. 

pan,  ran,  band,  hand,  land,  stand,  strand,  grand,  brand,  cap, 
flap,  gap,  cliap,  lap,  clap,  map,  nap,  pap,  sap,  tap,  at,  bat,  cat,  fat, 
gat,  hat,  that,  mat,  pat,  rat,  brat,  sat,  spat,  sprat,  tat,  vat.  This 
same  vowel  is  heard  in  the  word  plaid. 

A  third  extra  vowel  is  heard  in  pun,  and  written  generally 
with  an  u ;  as  cub,  dub,  hub,  nub,  rub,  scrub,  drub,  tub,  buck, 
duck,  luck,  cluck,  muck,  pluck,  suck,  stuck,  truck,  tuck,  chuck, 
bud,  cud,  dud,  mud,  suds,  stud,  scud,  buff,  cuff,  luff,  bluff,  muff, 
puff,  stuff,  ruff,  scuff,  bug,  dug,  drug,  hug,  jug,  lug,  slug, 
shrug,  mug,  snug,  tug,  cull,  dull,  gull,  hull,  mull,  null,  scull, 
gum,  hum,  drum,  glum,  plum,  mum,  rum,  sum,  bun,  dun,  gun, 
pun,  run,  sun,  tun,  stun,  shun,  up,  cup,  sup,  bump,  crump, 
dumps,  gump,  hump,  jump,  lump,  mumps,  pump,  rump,  us, 
buss,  fuss,  muss,  rush,  crush,  gush,  hush,  mush,  tush,  bust, 
dust,  gust,  just,  lust,  must,  rust,  crust,  but,  cut,  gut,  hut,  jut, 
nut,  rut,  tut,  bunk,  funk,  sunk,  drunk,  trunk,  hunt,  put,  blunt, 
grunt,  brunt,  lunch,  bunch,  hunch,  munch,  punch,  bulk,  sulk, 
skulk,  gulp,  pulp,  gulf,  tuft,  bung,  hung,  lung,  clung,  rung, 
stung,  swung,  strung,  musk,  rusk,  dusk,  tusk,  busk,  mulct, 
buskin,  musket,  runlet,  bucket,  public.  This  same  sound  is 
written  with  o  in  mother,  brother,  some,  come,  &c.,  and  ou  in 
touch,  and  in  rough,  tough,  enough,  in  which  gh  sounds  like  ff. 

The  fourth  extra  vowel,,  in  English  having  no  character  for 
it  is  written,  first,  with  i,  as  irk,  shirk,  dirk,  kirk,  mirk,  quirk, 
bird,  gird,  whirl,  quirl,  girl,  firm,  first,  chirp,  shirt,  sir,  fir, 
stir,  flirt,  spirt,  squirt,  squirm,  girdle,  &c.  Secondly,  with  e, 
as  in  err,  her,  herd,  term,  fern,  pert,  wert,  overt,  clerk, 
sperm,  stern,  insert,  vermin,  perhaps,  perplex,  persist,  ex- 
pert, divert,  superb,  sterling,  verdict,  pervert,  ferment,  fer- 
vent, servant,  perfect,  serpent,  partner,  sever,  several,  inter, 
internal,  fraternal,  paternal,  maternal,  external,  infernal,  in- 
terdict, intermix,  infer ;  and  generally  the  final  er,  as  silver, 
toper,  &c.  Thirdly,  this  vowel  is  written  with  o,  as  in  work, 
worm,  word,  worst,  world,  worth  ;  and  the  final  or,  as  in  ar- 
bor, ardor,  vigor,  &c.  Fourthly,  with  an  u,  as  in  urn,  burn, 
turn,  churn,  spurn,  cur,  fur,  blur,  bur,  purr,  spur,  curb,  sub- 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  87 

nrb,  surd,  curd,  surf,  scurf,  turf,  turk,  lurk,  curl,  furl,  hurl,  hur- 
dle ;  and  the  finals  ur,  or,  and  ture,  as  arbor,  honor,  perjure, 
injure,  &c. 

Another  anomaly  of  English  orthography  is  the  silent  e, 
at  the  end  of  so  many  words ;  as  doe,  foe,  hoe,  roe,  toe,  cue, 
clue,  blue,  glue,  flue,  give,  live,  lucre,  axle,  noble,  ogle,  rep- 
tile, fertile,  sterile,  sextile,  flexible,  futile,  missile,  famine,  jas- 
mine, destine,  pristine,  frigate,  senate,  reptile,  legate,  pensive, 
missive,  active,  captive,  festive,  motive,  sportive,  illusive,  de- 
fective, objective,  elective,  invective,  perspective,  defensive, 
expensive,  preventive,  retentive,  progressive,  vindictive,  re- 
strictive, instinctive,  descriptive,  explosive,  corrosive,  delu- 
sive, exclusive,  inclusive,  preclusive,  intensive,  palliative, 
narrative,  relative,  privative,  lucrative,  intuitive,  infinitive, 
explicative,  figurative,  imitative,  indicative,  superlative,  di- 
minutive, retrospective,  barnacle,  spectacle,  miracle,  pinnacle, 
article,  particle,  ventricle,  edible,  credible,  flexible,  audible, 
enoble,  ignoble,  sensible,  senile,  juvenile,  feminine,  eglantine, 
multiple,  dissemble,  assemble,  quadrille,  clandestine,  intes- 
tine, determine,  illumine,  calibre,  ferule,  marble,  pebble, 
treble,  tremble,  nibble,  quibble,  scribble,  nimble,  meddle,  ped- 
dle, kindle,  spindle,  fiddle,  riddle,  griddle,  quiddle,  middle, 
twinkle,  gargle,  single,  mingle,  sparkle,  speckle,  sickle,  tickle, 
trickle,  dimple,  simple,  pimple,  ripple,  triple,  pickle,  grizzle, 
little,  brittle,  spittle,  whittle,  nettle,  settle,  kettle,  startle, 
tinkle,  sprinkle,  valise,  marine,  ravine,  machine,  Alexandrine, 
creditable,  and  other  words  having  the  final  syllable  ble. 

This  silent  e  final  is  found  also  in  words  which  have  the 
diphthong  i ;  as  bide,  glide,  hide,  chide,  ride,  side,  slide,  tide, 
wide,  bride,  fife,  life,  wife,  rife,  strife,  bribe,  jibe,  dike,  like, 
bile,  file,  mile,  pile,  tile,  vile,  wile,  smile,  while,  style,  dime, 
time,  mime,  chime,  rime,  prime,  crime,  dine,  fine,  thine, 
line,  nine,  mine,  pine,  spine,  shine,  wine,  swine,  twine, 
vine,  kine,  chine,  pipe,  wipe,  ripe,  gripe,  snipe, .tripe,  stripe, 
type,  vie,  dire,  fire,  hire,  mire,  shire,  sire,  tire,  lyre,  wire, 
spire,  squire,  tribe,  scribe,  bribe,  jibe,  bite,  kite,  mite,  smite, 


88  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

kite,  write,  white,  trite,  wise,  lithe,  blithe,  writhe,  strive, 
thrive,  drive,  wive,  alive,  size,  prize,  agonize,  paralyze,  sym- 
pathize, symbolize,  &c. 

E  may  also  be  considered  silent,  it  is  so  obscure,  in  many 
words  ending  in  el  and  en ;  as  harden,  bidden,  golden,  gar- 
den, sicken,  quicken,  thicken,  stricken,  broken,  spoken,  token, 
swollen,  stolen,  open,  kitten,  mitten,  smitten,  bitten,  given, 
molten,  driven,  woven,  frozen,  mizzen,  dizzen,  tinsel,  morsel, 
swivel,  drivel,  novel,  model,  level,  bevel,  eleven,  seven,  &c. 

U  and  e  are  both  silent  in  the  words  rogue,  brogue,  fugue, 
eclogue,  prologue,  apologue,  epilogue,  intrigue,  fatigue,  syna- 
gogue, demagogue,  pedagogue,  decalogue,  catalogue,  mysta- 
gogue,  picturesque,  burlesque,  grotesque,  pique,  casique. 

U  is  silent  in  guess,  guest,  guard,  gaunt,  flaunt,  taunt, 
daunt,  avaunt,  launch,  staunch,  laundry,  laundress,  liquor, 
piquet,  coquette,  paroquet,  exchequer,  palanquin,  guarantee, 
gauntlet,  saunter,  guilt,  guitar,  built,  build,  biscuit,  four, 
pour,  court,  gourd,  mould,  bourn,  soul,  moult,  shoulder,  poul- 
try, coulter ;  and  w  final,  when  preceded  by  vowels,  ex- 
except  when  ow  stands  for  ou  diphthong,  is  silent. 

I  is  silent  in  fruit,  suit,  recruit,  bruise,  cruise,  heifer,  sur- 
feit, forfeit,  counterfeit,  Madeira,  and  y  in  they,  prey,  whey, 
obey,  heyday,  convey,  survey,  purvey. 

W  is  silent  in  bow,  low,  mow,  row,  sow,  tow,  slow,  blow, 
glow,  flow,  snow,  row,  crow,  grow,  throw,  bowl,  own,  blown, 
flown,  grown^.  sown,  mown,  growth,  owner,  toward,  below, 
lower,  owner,  disown,  arrow,  barrow,  farrow,  harrow,  mar- 
row, fallow,  gallows,  hallow,  shallow,  sallow,  tallow,  bellow, 
fellow,  yellow,  shadow,  burrow,  furrow,  billow,  pillow,  willow, 
widow,  minnow,  winnow,  follow,  hollow,  morrow,  sorrow. 

A  is  silent  in  boat,  coat,  goat,  doat,  moat,  groat,  bloat, 
throat,  loath,  oath,  boast,  coast,  roast,  coax,  hoax,  oak,  soak, 
cloak,  coach,  poach,  roach,  broach,  goad,  load,  coal,  foal,  goal, 
shoal,  oaf,  loaf,  foam,  loam,  roam,  loan,  moan,  groan,  soap, 
oar,  boar,  soar,  board,  hoard,  hoarse,  hoary,  cocoa,  gloaming, 
encroach,  reproach,  approach. 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  89 

The  silent  consonants  are  k  before  n — (doubtless  pro- 
nounced in  Saxon  times,)  in  knit,  knee,  knell,  kneel,  knave, 
knife,  knack,  know,  knead,  knives,  knock,  knuckle. 

Also,  g  before  n,  as  gnat,  gnaw,  gnarl,  gnome,  gnash,  reign, 
deign,  sign,  consign,  assign,  design,  condign,  benign,  impugn, 
oppugn,  arraign,  campaign. 

Also,  g  before  m,  as  phlegm,  paradigm,  &c. 
Also,  ch  in  schism  and  drachm. 

Also,  1  before  m,  k,  v,  f,  and  d  —  as  in  alms,  balm,  calm, 
qualm,  calf,  half,  talk,  balk,  stalk,  chalk,  walk,  folks,  salve, 
halves,  calves,  could,  would,  should,  almond,  salmon. 

Also,  p  before  s,  and  sh,  as  in  pshaw,  pseudo,  psalm, 
psalter. 

Also,  b  before  t,  as  debt,  doubt,  subtle,  indebted,  un- 
doubted, &c. 

And  b  after  m  is  silent,  as  lamb,  jamb,  climb,  tomb,  womb, 
numb,  thumb,  crumb,  dumb,  plumb,  comb,  hecatomb,  cata- 
comb, currycomb,  coxcomb,  succumb. 

Also,  n  after  m,  as  column,  solemn,  autumn,  condemn, 
hymn,  &c. 

And  d  before  t  in  stadtholder. 

K  is  often  unnecessarily  used  after  c,  and  t  before  ch. 
T  after  s  is  silent  in  listen,  glisten,  hasten,  chasten,  christen, 
fasten,  moisten,  thistle,  whistle,  bristle,  castle,  nestle,  pestle, 
gristle,  jostle,  justle,  hustle,  bustle,  rustle,  epistle,  apostle, 
mistletoe,  forecastle. 

C  after  s  is  silent  in  scion,  scent,  scythe,  muscle,  sceptre, 
science,  sciatica,  sciolism,  scissure,  scission,  scissors,  scenery, 
transcend,  descend,  descent,  viscid,  crescent,  proboscis,  fasci- 
nate, viscera,  ascetic,  excrescence,  corpuscle,  acquiesce,  coal- 
esce, rescission,  abscission,  putrescence,  ascendency,  suscep- 
tible, irascible,  viscidity,  eviscerate,  lascivious,  resuscitate, 
scimitar,  scintillate,  phosphoresce,  deliquesce,  effloresce,  effer- 
vesce, transcendent,  condescend,  condescension,  convalescence, 
concupiscence,  reminiscence,  acquiescent,  iridescent,  arbor- 
escent, susceptibility,  scenography,  sciography. 


90  KIXDERGAKTEN  GUIDE. 

The  initial  h  is  often  silent,  as  in  hour,  herbage,  huge, 
honest,  honor,  humor ;  also,  after  r,  rhomboid,  rheum,  rhyme, 
myrrh,  ghost,  aghast,  catarrh,  rhubarb,  catarrhal,  rheumatic, 
dishabille,  rhapsody,  posthumous,  hemorrhage,  &c. 

W  is  silent  before  r  in  wry,  write,  writhe,  wrath,  wreath, 
wreathe,  wrong,  wretch,  wright,  wrist,  wriggle,  wrinkle ;  and 
before  h  in  who,  whose,  whom,  whoop,  whole. 

What  is  especially  puzzling  about  the  English  orthogra- 
phy, is  the  unnecessary  use  of  the  same  letter  for  different 
sounds.  Thus  s  does  not  always  sound  s  —  but  sometimes 
sounds  like  z.  (If  all  the  sounds  z  were  written  z,  it  would 
make  our  language  look  as  full  of  z's  as  the  Polish.) 

After  all  the  sonorous  labials,  gutturals,  and  dentals,  we 
cannot  help  sounding  z  —  as  cabs,  hods,  rags,  etc. ;  also,  be- 
fore m,  as  heroism,  paroxysm,  somnambulism,  materialism,  &c. ; 
in  monosyllables  ending  with  a  single  s,  as  is,  was,  as,  has, 
his,  hers,  ours.,  theirs ;  also,  in  daisy,  reside,  desire,  noisy, 
bosom,  visage,  closet,  resign,  music,  prison,  reason,  pansy, 
tansy,  disown,  preside,  pleasant,  peasant,  prosaic,  present, 
presence,  Tuesday,  measles,  cosmos,  pleasure,  measure,  treas- 
ure, leisure,  disclosure,  enclosure,  composure,  kerseymere, 
resolute,  devisor,  revisal,  reprisal,  basilisk,  deposit,  courtesan, 
raspberry,  residue,  venison,  disaster,  division,  plausible,  feasi- 
ble, basilicon,  presbytery,  resolute,  deposit,  president,  vis- 
ionary, perquisite,  exquisite,  composite,  resentment,  carousal, 
espousal,  disposal. 

Instead  of  c  or  k  we  have  in  many  words  ch  —  as  Christ, 
chasm,  chyle,  conch,  chrome,  ache,  scheme,  school,  chaos, 
epoch,  chorus,  chronic,  echo,  anchor,  tetrarch,  trochee,  ar- 
chives, scholar,  schooner,  monarch,  hierarch,  chronicle,  chrys- 
alis, technical,  mechanic,  patriarch,  pentateuch,  bacchanal, 
saccharine,  chamomile,  eucharist,  character,  archetype,  or- 
chestra, catechize,  catechism,  alchemy,  chemistry,  schedule, 
paschal,  chaldee,  stomach,  lilach,  sumach,  chimera,  heptarchy, 
lachrymal. 

All  the  above  words  are  from  the  Greek,  and  so  are  those 


KINDEKGAKTEN  GUIDE.  91 

in  which  f  is  written  with  ph,  as  sylph,  lymph,  sphere,  sphinx, 
graphic,  phalanx,  phantom,  orphan,  dolphin,  camphor,  pamph- 
let, sulphur,  zephyr,  hyphen,  trophy,  philter,  phaeton,  sphe- 
roid, alphabet,  emphasis,  prophesy,  prophecy,  caliphate, 
sophistry,  &c. 

The  sound  of  s  is  substituted  for  the  Latin  guttural  (hard  c) 
in  acid,  placid,  facile,  tacit,  process,  precinct,  docile,  recipe, 
illicit,  cinder,  fleecy,  census,  pencil,  precept,  accede,  recede, 
concede,  cite,  pacify,  lacerate,  macerate,  taciturn,  oscillate, 
precede,  implicit,  explicit,  decimal,  precipice,  specify,  spe- 
cimen, abbacy,  imbecile,  indocile,  solicit,  felicity,  atrocity, 
ferocity,  rapacity,  tenacity,  veracity,  vivacity,  voracity,  au- 
dacity, precocity,  simplicity,  lubricity,  rusticity,  municipal, 
medicinal,  rhinoceros,  publicity,  diocesan,  mendacity,  men- 
dicity, duplicity,  elasticity,  pertinacity,  incapacity,  electricity, 
multiplicity,  authenticity,  duodecimo,  anticipates,  necessary, 
countenance,  abstinence,  and  all  other  words  which  end  in 
ce.* 

The  sound  of  j  is  substituted  for  that  of  g  (the  sonorous 
guttural)  in  germ,  genus,  genius,  angel,  gentile,  pigeon,  dun- 
geon, surgeon,  sturgeon,  bludgeon,  curmudgeon,  sergeant, 
pageant,  .vengeance,  stingy,  dingy,  &c.,  manger,  danger,  stran- 
ger, religion,  badger,  budget,  gibbet,  giblets,  allegiance,  pla- 
giarism, gibe,  (sometimes  and  better  jibe ;)  all  words  ending 
in  ge,  as  bilge,  huge,  barge,  large,  and  all  ending  in  dge,  as 
wedge,  ledge,  pledge,  hedge,  sledge,  fledge,  ridge,  bridge, 
midge,  drudge,  judge,  lodge  ;  all  words  ending  gious,  as  pro- 
digious, egregious,  sacrilegious,  &c. ;  or  in  geous,  as  courage- 
ous, &c. ;  or  in  age,  as  cottage,  plumage,  foliage,  &c. 

The  extra  consonant  which  we  sometimes  write  sh,  is  writ- 
ten variously ;  1st,  simply  with  s,  as  in  sugar,  sensual,  and 
sure,  and  its  compounds ;  2dly,  with  ss,  in  cassia ;  3dly, 

*  Nearly  every  one  of  these  words  are  derived  from  the  Latin,  but  they 
come  into  the  English  language  from  the  Norman-French  in  which  they 
•were  already  corrupted.  All  nouns  in  ce  are  from  Latin  nouns  in  tia,  and 
ought  to  have  been  written  with  se  instead  of  ce,  except  peace  and  voice, 
•which  come  from  the  Latin  pace  and  voce. 


92  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

with  ci,  in  magician,  logician,  patrician,  optician,  musician, 
academician,  geometrician,  mathematician  ;  and  in  a  multitude 
of  words  ending  in  ious,  as  specious,  gracious,  spacious,  av- 
aricious, auspicious,  pertinacious,  judicious,  suspicious,  loqua- 
cious, audacious,  sagacious,  fallacious,  capacious,  rapacious, 
tenacious,  delicious,  malicious,  pertinacious,  officious,  capri- 
cious, ferocious,  atrocious,  precocious,  voracious,  veracious, 
and  perhaps  some  others  ;  also,  in  words  ending  with  al,  as 
official,  judicial,  provincial,  commercial,  artificial,  beneficial ; 
and  in  sociable,  associate,  appreciable  and  appreciate,  enun- 
ciate, dissociate,  excruciate,  depreciate,  emaciate,  denunciate, 
renunciate,  prescient,  omniscient ;  4thly,  with  ce,  in  cetaceous, 
filaceous,  herbaceous,  caduceous,  cretaceous,  testaceous,  crus- 
taceous,  argillaceous,  gallinaceous ;  Sthly,  with  ti,  in  factious, 
fractious,  captious,  vexatious,  facetious,  licentious,  factitious, 
propitious,  flagitious,  nutritious,  expeditious,  superstitious, 
adventitious  ;  vitiate,  expatiate,  ingratiate,  insatiate,  initiate  ; 
partial,  martial,  nuptial,  initial,  essential,  substantial,  creden- 
tial, potential,  prudential,  solstitial,  impartial,  penitential, 
equinoctial,  influential,  reverential,  pestilential,  providential, 
circumstantial,  ratio,  and  all  words  ending  in  tion,  as  ration, 
nation,  station,  notion,  diction,  fiction,  friction,  fraction,  potion, 
action,  junction,  suction,  section,  mention,  libation,  vacation, 
vocation,  location,  exhalation,  installation,  implication,  flagel- 
lation, appellation,  revelation,  education,  &c. ;  Gthly,  with  ch, 
as  chicanery,  seneschal. 

In  many  words  is  a  superfluous  t,  as  in  hitch,  ditch,  pitch, 
witch,  switch,  stitch,  flitch,  stretch,  sketch,  etch,  fetch,  wretch, 
notch,  botch,  notch,  potch,  watch,  latch,  match,  batch,  catch, 
hatch,  patch,  hutch. 

In  some  words  is  a  superfluous  d,  as  badge,  ledge,  sledge. 

And  a  superfluous  k  is  very  common. 

Some  of  the  above  substitutions  are  perhaps  natural 
enough,  in  consequence  of  the  fact  of  extra  sounds,  having 
no  special  characters  for  them  in  the  alphabet,  which  was 
phonography  for  the  Latin  language  only.  But  there  are 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  93 

the  same  perplexing  changes  with  respect  to  the  regular 
vowels. 

Thus,  in  the  case  of  e,  when  it  is  long,  as  in  fete,  —  we 
find  it  written  in  five  ways,  —  ay,  ai,  ea,  ey,  and  simply  a. 

As  1st,  aye,  day,  bay,  fay,  gay,  hay,  pay,  may,  nay,  say, 
ray,  dray,  bray,  gray,  fray,  play,  pray,  array,  assay,  allay, 
display,  portray,  dismay,  mislay. 

2d.  Aid,  braid,  laid,  maid,  paid,  afraid,  staid,  bait,  gait, 
wait,  bail,  fail,  hail,  jail,  mail,  nail,  pail,  quail,  rail,  sail,  tail, 
wail,  frail,  flail,  snail,  trail,  avail,  entail,  assail,  fain,  gain,  lain, 
main,  pain,  rain,  vain,  wain,  train,  grain,  brain,  stain,  sprain, 
swain,  drain,  dainty,  portrait,  saint,  faint,  paint,  quaint,  plaint, 
aim,  claim,  maim,  tailor,  jailer,  traitor,  sailor,  raiment,  caitiff, 
plaintiff,  prevail,  contain,  chilblain,  sustain,  upbraid,  declaim, 
exclaim,  proclaim. 

3d.  Break,  steak,  great. 

4thly.  They,  convey,  survey,  &c. 

Sthly.  Any,  many,  legation,  asparagus,  virago,  volcano, 
verbatim,  arcanum,  potato,  octavo,  tornado,  and  words  end- 
ing in  ace,  ade,  afe,  age,  ake,  ale,  ame,  ane,  ape,  ase,  ate, 
athe,  ave,  ary,  aste,  aze,  base,  case,  face,  grace,  lace,  mace, 
pace,  ace,  bade,  fade,  shade,  made,  wade,  safe,  chafe,  cage, 
sage,  rage,  gage,  stage,  page,  wage,  plumage,  foliage,  cottage, 
bake,  cake,  lake,  make,  quake,  rake,  take,  sake,  brake,  flake, 
bale,  dale,  gale,  hale,  male,  pale,  sale,  tale,  whale,  vale,  bane, 
cane,  fane,  lane,  mane,  pane,  sane,  wane,  vane,  bathe,  lathe, 
swathe,  cave,  gave,  lave,  nave,  pave,  rave,  drave,  grave, 
shave,  stave,  crave,  ate,  bate,  fate,  date,  gate,  hate,  late, 
mate,  pate,  rate,  sate,  crate,  prate,  plate,  state,  skate,  slate, 
waste,  baste,  haste,  paste,  chaste,  taste,  came,  blame,  dame, 
fame,  frame,  game,  lame,  flame,  name,  same,  tame,  frame, 
shame,  cape,  gape,  nape,  rape,  grape,  drape,  crape,  blaze, 
daze,  gaze,  haze,  maze,  raze,  craze,  graze,  glaze,  honorary, 
actuary,  tributary,  sedentary,  primary,  salutary,  solitary, 
burglary,  contrary,  &c. 


94  KINDERGARTEN"  GUIDE. 

So  for  the  sound  of  I  long,  as  in  marine,  we  have  some- 
times e,  sometimes  ee,  sometimes  ea,  sometimes  ie,  as  — 

1st.  —  He,  she,  we,  me,  mete,  glebe,  theme,  breve,  veto, 
hero,  zero,  negro,  ether,  theist,  deist,  edict,  fever,  lever, 
metre,  zenith,  extreme,  supreme,  impede,  serene,  convene, 
gangrene,  austere,  cohere,  adhere,  revere,  severe,  interfere, 
persevere,  secret,  complete,  concrete,  secrete,  obsolete,  the- 
orem, torpedo,  inherent. 

2d.  —  Fee,  bee,  lee,  glee,  flee,  free,  tree,  see,  three,  eel,  feel, 
keel,  reel,  peel,  wheel,  deem,  seem,  keen,  green,  queen,  teens, 
ween,  deed,  feed,  heed,  meed,  need,  reed,  seed,  bleed,  creed, 
leek,  meek,  sleek,  seek,  week,  cheek,  beef,  reef,  keep,  sweep, 
weep,  deep,  peep,  sleep,  beech,  speech,  leech ;  spleen,  com- 
peer, between,  beseech,  discreet,  steeple,  vaneer,  career,  tu- 
reen, moreen,  careen,  redeem,  agreed,  settee,  razee,  degree, 
agree,  decree,  grandee,  linseed,  peevish,  esteem,  devotee,  lega- 
tee, referee,  repartee,  patentee,  absentee,  privateer,  mule- 
teer, overseer,  volunteer,  chanticleer,  domineer,  gazetteer,  gen- 
teel, indiscreet,  steelyard,  thirteen,  &c. 

3d.  —  Pea,  tea,  yea,  flee,  plea,  bohea ;  each,  beach,  breach, 
bleach,  teach,  meach,  peach ;  bleak,  sneak,  streak,  speak, 
squeak,  beak,  peak,  creak,  teak,  creak,  freak,  tweak,  weak, 
bead,  lead,  read,  plead,  deaf,  leaf,  sheaf,  beam,  ream,  dream, 
cream,  stream,  team,  steam,  seam,  deal,  heal,  leal,  meal,  peal, 
seal,  steal,  veal,  zeal,  bean,  dean,  lean,  mean,  wean,  yean ; 
heap,  cheap,  leap,  reap ;  ear,  fear,  hear,  blear,  clear,  smear, 
near,  spear,  rear,  drear,  year,  beard,  east,  beast,  feast,  least, 
yeast,  eat,  beat,  feat,  heat,  meat,  neat,  peat,  'seat,  wheat, 
bleat,  cheat,  treat,  heath,  sheathe,  breathe,  heave,  weave,  leave, 
treacle,  eagle,  eaglet,  squeamish,  dreary,  weary,  creature, 
impeach,  anneal,  appeal,  reveal,  endear,  appear,  arrear,  be- 
smear, defeat,  release,  increase,  decrease,  beneath,  repeat,  en- 
treat, retreat,  bereave,  bequeath,  cochineal,  eatable,  easter- 
ly, deanery. 

4th.  Where  the  e  is  silent ;  either,  neither,  seizure,  surfeit, 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  95 

inveigle,  forfeit,  mullein,  fief,  chief,  thief,  brief,  grief,  field, 
shield,  wield,  yield,  fiend,  priest,  belief,  sieve,  grieve,  belief, 
achieve,  retrieve,  relieve,  aggrieve,  cashier,  brigadier,  grena- 
dier, cannonier,  cavalier,  cordelier;  also  receive,  conceive, 
perceive,  deceive,  deceit,  conceit. 

The  sound  of  u  is  also  written  oe,  o,  ew,  oo,  and  ou 
(silent  o),  shoe,  canoe,  woman,  chew,  brew,  screw,  threw, 
shrew,  sew,  dew,  few,  jew,  mew,  new,  pew,  coo,  too,  loo,  woo, 
tattoo,  bamboo,  hindoo,  food,  good,  hood,  mood,  rood,  stood, 
wood,  book,  cook,  hook,  look,  nook,  rook,  took,  cool,  drool,  fool, 
stool,  wool,  spool,  boom,  broom,  doom,  bloom,  groom,  loom, 
gloom,  room,  boon,  spoon,  coon,  swoon,  loon,  shalloon,  moon, 
picaroon,  noon,  soon,  poltroon,  cocoon,  platoon,  festoon,  mon- 
soon, baboon,  coop,  droop,  hoop,  loop,  poop,  stoop,  boor,  moor, 
poor,  goose,  moose,  noose,  boot,  coot,  foot,  hoot,  loot,  moot, 
root,  soot,  booty,  roof,  behoof,  aloof,  reproof,  proof,  groove, 
soothe,  smooth,  tooth,  booth,  boost,  roost,  pantaloen. 

It  is  also  written  with  a  silent  o,  as  in  tour,  croup,  group, 
youth,  wound,  souvenir,  surtout,  cartouche,  contour,  amour, 
uncouth,  accoutre,  moustache,  tambourine. 

I  have  said  that  I  give  to  my  scholars  "  Mother  Goose,"  as 
soon  as  they  have  mastered  my  first  "  Nursery  Reading-Book." 
But  this  is  for  recreation  ;  while  all  the  important  work  is 
making  the  groups  of  exceptional  words  upon  their  slates,  at 
my  dictation.  Sometimes  these  can  be  written  on  the  black- 
board, and  copied  into  little  books,  by  the  children.  When 
there  are  several  ways  of  writing  the  same  sound,  I  make 
several  columns,  and  put  at  the  head  of  each  a  word  thus :  — 


i, 


pin. 


me, 


ee, 
see, 


ic, 
grieve  ; 


and  then,  mentioning  different  words,  ask  in  which  column 
they  are  to  be  put  ?  The  children  are  greatly  interested  in 
this  exercise ;  and  the  effect  of  it  is,  to  make  them  know  the 
precise  -spelling  of  the  words.  When  a  column  is  finished, 
they  are  called  on  to  read  the  words,  and  sometimes  to  re- 
peat the  group  by  heart. 


96  KINDERGARTEN    GUIDE. 

I  have  not  put  all  the  words  in  the  language  in  my  groups ; 
but  enough  for  the  purpose,  —  they  can  be  filled  up  from  the 
teacher's  and  children's  memories. 

The  greater  the  anomaly,  the  more  easily  it  is  remembered, 
because  the  specimens  are  few,  and  the  anomaly  amuses. 

Thus,  I  sometimes  begin  (after  I  have  shown  them  how  to 
write  the  extra  vowels  and  consonants,  and  the  diphthongs,) 
with  the  word  phthisic  ;  asking  them  all  to  write  it  on  their 
slates  as  they  think  it  should  be ;  and  then  writing  it  myself, 
as  it  is,  on  the  board.  So  I  ask  them  to  write  through,  which 
they  will  write  thru.  f  I  then  surprise  them' by  writing  it 
on  the  black-board,  and  putting  in  the  silent  vowel  and  con- 
sonants. Then  I  ask  them  to  write  bough  ;  and  then  though, 
and  dough ;  then  trough,  which  they  will  write  troth ;  then 
laugh,  draught,  tough,  which  they  will  write  with  f  for  the 
gh.  In  reviewing  the  lesson  the  next  day,  all  these  words 
can  be  written  in  their  manuscript  books,  with  a  lead-pencil. 
The  book,  which  is  the  best  one  to  follow  Mother  Goose,  and 
perhaps  might  precede  it,  is  Mrs.  Mann's  "  Primer  of  Reading 
and  Drawing."  This  begins  with  about  twenty  pages  of 
words  that  can  be  read  at  once  by  those  who  have  used  the 
"  First  Nursery  Reading-Book,"  because  the  Roman  alphabet 
is  a  phonography  for  it  all.  Mrs.  Mann's  book  is  full  of 
sentences  that  have  beautiful  meanings,  and  it  contains  some 
attractive  stories.  It  has  been  out  of  print  a  long  time ;  but 
a  new  edition  is  about  being  put  to  press. 

But  any  book  can  be  used  by  a  person  of  judgment.  The 
mother  of  the  Wesleys  always  taught  her  children  to  read 
in  the  Bible  from  the  beginning. 

In  good  reading,  words  are  not  only  to  be  pronounced,  but 
to  be  read  with  expression ;  and  this  end  is  gained  by  its 
coming  after  object-learning.  Unless  a  child  conceives  what 
a  word  means,  he  cannot  have  the  appropriate  emotion,  and 
without  the  emotion  he  cannot  read  with  expression.  In 
hurrying  children  on  to  read  faster  than  they  can  understand 
and  feel,  permanent  bad  habits  are  acquired,  and  especially 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  97 

the  habit  of  reading  without  sufficiently  filling  the  lungs 
with  breath  ;  and  this  not  only  makes  disagreeable  reading 
for  the  hearer ;  but  is  very  injurious  to  the  health  of  the 
reader. 

Dr.  H.  F.  Briggs,  of  New  York,  who  teaches  elocution  as 
a  means  of  health,  proposes  that  there  should  be  exercises 
of  vocalizing,  —  uttering  each  vowel  sound  to  express  all 
kinds  of  emotion  which  the  special  vowel  will  express,  and 
in  all  quantities  and  accents.  Children  are  all  naturally 
histrionic  and  will  be  amused  in  doing  this.  The  vowel 
sounds  educate'  emotions  in  those  who  utter  them,  and 
awaken  them  in  those  who  hear.  When  pronounced  with 
feeling,  they  come  from  the  chest  and  abdomen  and  not  from 
the  head  merely,  and  so  give  a  general  internal  exercise  that 
is  healthy.  Bronson's  "  Elocutionist "  will  give  a  teacher 
much  assistance  in  this  branch,  though  he  has  not  worked 
out  the  thing  so  completely  as  Dr.  Briggs  has  done. 

It  is  proper  to  remark  to  those  who  measure  the  success 
of  a  school  by  the  rapidity  with  which  it  teaches  a  child  to 
read,  that  the  thorough  attainment  of  the  art  here  proposed, 
requires  time.  But  when  attained,  much  is  gained  besides 
the  mere  reading,  —  namely,  development  of  body,  mind,  and 
heart. 

Besides,  to  those  who  are  hereafter  to  be  taught  other 
languages  it  will  be  found  of  great  advantage  to  have  asso- 
ciated the  vowel  sounds  of  ark,  ebb,  ill,  old,  and  rue,  with 
the  characters  a,  e,  i,  o,  u,  respectively.  See  for  the  proof  of 
this,  some  articles  on  "  Kraitsir's  Significance  of  the  Alpha- 
bet," published  in  "  The  North  American  Review  "  for  1849. 


98  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

GRAMMAR   AND    LANGUAGES. 

MRS.  MANN  has  suggested,  in  the  last  part  of  this  volume, 
the  first  exercises  in  grammar.  But  grammar  is  the  most 
abstract  of  sciences.  There  are  at  present  few  children 
sent  to  Kindergartens,  who  are  not  too  young  for  the  abstract- 
ing processes  of  classing  words  into  parts  of  speech. 

But  it  is  a  lesson  of  orthography,  to  lead  the  children  to 
make  the  few  changes  which  there  are  in  English  words, 
to  denote  grammatical  modifications.  For  instance,  let  them 
write  cat,  and  then  say — "If  you  are  talking  about  more 
than  one  cat,  what  do  you  say  ?  "  They  will  say  cats.  Let 
them  write  at  the  head  of  two  columns  —  cat  and  cats.  Af- 
ter some  exercises  on  words  adding  s  only,  tell  them  to  write 
box,  and  ask,  "  What  if  there  are  more  than  one  ?  "  Then 
go  on  and  get  groups  of  other  irregularities,  as  changing  f 
into  ves,  y  into  ies,  &c.  Having  gone  over  the  nouns,  and 
told  all  their  changes,  for  number,  also  letting  the  children 
write  a  list  of  the  nouns  that  do  not  change  for  number,  go 
into  verbs,  and  give  the  few  personal  terminations  thus :  tell 
the  children  to  write,  1  cry.  Then  say,  "  Would  you  say 
George  cry  ?  "  "  No,"  they  will  reply,  "  George  cries."  I  say, 
"  I  have  a  book  ;  but  should  I  say,  George  have  a  book  ?  " 
They  will  say,  —  "  No  ;  George  has  a  book."  Also  by  ask- 
ing questions  whose  answers  shall  give  the  comparison  of 
adjectives,  these  can  be  written  ;  and  finally  the  past  tense 
and  past  participles  of  irregular  verbs.  In  my  own  Kin- 
dergarten I  have  given  to  about  half  a  dozen  children  who 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  99 

know  how  to  read  fluently,  and  can  print  very  prettily,  a 
little  LATIN.  It  is  but  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  lesson,  and 
is  conducted  in  this  wise :  —  Write  down  am.  Now,  that 
means  love  in  Latin  ;  but  if  you  want  to  say  he  loves  you, 
add  at,  which  makes  amat.  Write  down  ar.  That  means 
plough  ;  if  you  want  to  write  he  ploughs  you  write  what  ? 
A  bright  child  said  arat.  Now  write  down  cant.  That 
means  sing.  Now  if  you  want  to  say  he  sings,  you  add 
what?  at,  then  it  is  cantat.  But  if  you  want  to  say  to 
love  you  must  add  are  to  am.  They  all  said  amare.  Now, 
if  you  want  to  say  to  plough  ?  arare ;  and  to  sing,  cantare. 
Now  make  the  whole  sentence,  he  loves  to  sing.  What  is 
it  he  loves  ?  They  all  wrote  amat  cantare.  Now  write  he 
loves  to  plough.  They  wrote  amat  arare.  I  took  the  hint 
from  Harkness's  edition  of  "  Arnold's  First  Lessons,"  and  gave 
them  six  variations  on  the  four  regular  conjugations,  the 
infinitive  and  the  third  person  singular  of  the  present  im- 
perfect and  future  indicative,  and  Latinized  their  own  names ; 
and  they  were  greatly  entertained  to  improvise  sentences, 
the  most  complicated  of  which  was,  O  Helena,  Anna  loves 
to  dance,  Maria  loves  to  sing.  I  give  them  no  grammatical 
terms,  but  only  English  meanings,  and  shall  not  give  any 
cases  but  the  nominative  and  vocative  at  present ;  but  I  think 
I  shall  teach  them  to  vary  verbs  throughout  all  the  conjuga- 
tions. It  is  perfectly  easy  to  give  so  much  of  Latin  gram- 
mar to  children  in  the  Kindergarten,  because  it  will  not 
involve  the  use  of  a  book.  They  can  have  a  manuscript 
book  into  which  they  can  write  their  words  and  sentences, 
in  print-letters. 

French,  so  far  as  it  can  be  taught  by  merely  conversing 
with  the  children,  is  legitimate  in  the  Kindergarten ;  also 
any  other  modern  language.  But  let  there  be  no  books 
used,  nor  should  French  be  written  by  the  children,  for  it 
will  confuse  their  English  spelling,  and  not,  like  Latin  words, 
aid  it.  In  my  Kindergarten,  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  a 
day  is  given  to  making  French  phrases  by  all  but  the  small- 


100  KIXDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

est  children.  They  have  also  been  greatly  interested  in 
learning  the  French  words  of  a  play,  which  is  a  useful  ex- 
ercise in  pronunciation.  I  will  give  the  words  here :  — 

L'ESTURGEON  (Sturgeon). 
Commere  Perche, 
Je  vous  salue  ! 
Comment  vous  portez-vous  ? 

LA  PERCHE  (Perch). 
Je  me  porte  tres  bien,  et  vous  ? 

Quelle  est  1'heure  pour  le  ragout 
Fait  de  sole  et  de  morue  ? 

LA  SOLE  ET  LA  MORUE  (Sole  and  Cod). 
Commere  Perche,  je  vous  salue  ; 
Nous  autres  ne  serons  pas  un  ragout. 

L'ESTURGEON. 
Commere  Baleine, 
Comment  vous  portez-vous  ? 

LA.  BALEINE    (Whale). 
Tres  bien,  et  vous  ? 

L'ESTURGEON. 
Pouvez-vous  sauter  en  haut 

Comme  moi, 
Au  dessus  de  1'eau  ? 

LA  BALEINE. 

Je  ne  puis  sauter  si  haut ; 
Mais  je  saurais  faire  jeter  de  1'eau. 

L'ESTURGEON. 

Commere  Hareng,  je  vous  ealue, 
Dites  moi,  je  prie,  ou  allez-vous  ? 

LA  HARENG   (Herring). 
Je  vais  chez  moi,  chercher  les  jeunes, 
Alors  nous  irons  a  1'ocean. 


KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE.  101 

L'EsTURGEON. 

Commere  JBrochet,  je  vous  salue  ! 
Commere  Brochet,  que  mangez-vous  ? 

LE  BROCHET  (Pike). 
Je  mange  des  truites 

Pour  mon  dejeuner, 
Et  des  e"perlans 

Pour  mon  diner. 

L'ESTURGEON. 
Commere  truite, 
Je  vous  salue ! 
Dites  moi,  je  vous  prie, 
Qu'avez-vous  ? 

LA  TRUITE  (Trout). 
Ah,  par  exemple, 

J'ai  bien  grand  peur  ; 
Voil5,  le  brocheton 
Meme  si  de  bonne  heure  ! 

L'ESTURGEON. 
Commere  Requin, 

Je  vous  salue ! 
Que  faites-vous  la, 
Aupres  du  bateau. 

LE  REQUIN  (Shark). 
Je  veux  manger 

Le  petit  garpon, 

Qui  peche  dans  1'eau. 

Pour  1'eperlan. 

L'EPERLAN  (Smelt). 
Petit  garden,  • 

Je  vous  salue ! 
Voila  la  Requin 
Pres  de  moi,  et  pres  de  vous. 

(Tons  lespoissons  se plangent.) 


102  KINDERGARTEN  GUIDE. 

The  play  consists  in  each  fish  being  represented  by  a 
child;  and  the  little  boy  also.  As  the  Sturgeon  asks  her 
questions,  she  jumps  up  and  down,  and  as  the  fishes  answer, 
they  jump  up  and  down,  till  all  are  in  motion.  But,  before 
it  is  played,  the  whole  must  be  learnt,  —  which  is  nearly  a 
winter's  work. 


KINDERGAKTEN  GUIDE.  103 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

GEOGRAPHY. 

MR.  SHELDON,  in  his  u  Elementary  Instruction,"  has  shown 
the  way  in  which  we  may  begin  to  teach  geography  without 
books.  To  proceed  in  that  way,  up  to  the  point  of  drawing 
all  maps,  is  feasible  in  a  Kindergarten,  if  the  children  stay 
long  enough.  My  children  learn  a  great  deal  about  the 
geographical  locality  of  animals,  from  the  natural  history 
lessons  given  over  the  blocks.  A  "  Picturesque  Geography," 
compiled  by  Mrs.  Mann,  from  the  most  brilliant  descriptions 
of  travellers,  may  by  and  by  be  printed,  and  it  would  be 
a  good  book  to  read  to  children.  It  should  be  read  slowly, 
requiring  them  to  tell  what  it  makes  them  see  in  their  fancy. 
This  comprises  a  .great  deal  of  physical  geography,  and  is  a 
desirable  precursor  of  political  geography,  which  will  be 
studied  to  most  advantage  by  and  by,  with  history.  (But 
history  is  altogether  beyond  the  Kindergarten.) 

Children  who  have  been  educated  in  the  Kindergarten 
thus  far,  will  learn  to  draw  maps.  Mr.  Sheldon  proposes 
beginning  with  a  map  of  the  room,  of  the  play-ground,  and 
of  the  town.  Guyot's  "  Map-Drawing  Cards,"  drawn  by  E. 
Sandoz,  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Arnold  Guyot,  and 
published  by  Charles  Scribner,  124  Grand  Street,  New 
York,  may  here  come  in  play. 


104  KINDERGARTEN   GUIDE. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    SECRET    OF   POWER. 

IN  the  foregoing  pages  I  have  done  what  I  can,  to  make 
a  Kindergarten  Guide ;  not  only  for  the  use  of  those  who 
undertake  the  new  education,  but  in  order  to  give  parents 
a  definite  idea  of  the  value  of  the  new  education  to  their 
children,  and  how  they  may  aid  rather  than  hinder  its 
legitimate  effect.  Parents  who  live  in  places  so  isolated  as 
to  make  a  Kindergarten  impossible,  may  also  get  some  hints 
how  to  supply  the  want  in  some  measure,  by  becoming  them- 
selves the  playmates  of  their  children. 

I  think  it  will  be  readily  inferred,  from  what  I  have  said, 
that  the  secret  of  power  and  success  is  gradualism.  Any 
child  can  learn  anything,  if  time  and  opportunity  is  given  to 
go  step  by  step.  Then  learning  becomes  as  easy  and  agree- 
able as  eating  and  drinking.  Every  degree  of  knowledge, 
also,  must  be  practically  used  as  soon  as  attained.  It  then 
becomes  a  power ;  makes  the  child  a  power  in  nature ;  and 
prepares  him,  when  his  spirit  shall  come  into  union  with  the 
God  ef  Nature,  and  Father  of  Human  Spirits,  to  become  a 
power  over  Nature  —  "for  the  glory  of  God  and  relief  of 
man's  estate." 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 


LETTER  I. 

MY  DEAR  ANNA,  —  I  had  heard  of  your  intention  of 
keeping  school  before  you  wrote  to  me,  and  had  rejoiced  for 
the  good  cause  as  only  one  can  do  who  knows  your  peculiar 
qualifications  for  it.  I  have  been  full  of  the  purpose  of  an- 
swering your  letter,  to  tell  you  how  joyfully  I  look  forward 
to  the  realization  of  some  of  my  wishes  through  your  help, 
such  as  that  of  perfecting  some  beautiful  plan  of  education, 
which  you  and  I,  with  our  faith  in  perfectibility,  might  in- 
vent, but  which  I  could  not  make  alone.  When  we  parted 
many  years  since,  in  one  of  those  beautiful  porticos  of  the 
temple  of  knowledge,  where  we  had  together  been  warmed 
by  the  fires  of  genius,  and  where  our  sympathy  (perhaps  I 
should  say  yours)  had  rekindled  a  certain  torch  of  enthusiasm 
that  had  been  long  quenched  by  adversity  —  (I  sadly  fear  it 
is  smouldering  again  under  the  ashes  of  freshly-buried  hope) 
—  I  little  expected  to  meet  you  again  in  my  favorite  walk, 
made  fragrant  by  the  breath  of  little  children.  If  we  had 
chanced  to  meet  often  enough  since  then,  we  should  have 
found  much  to  reunite  us,  for  my  best  teachers  have  been 
certain  wise  mothers  ;  —  indeed,  the  only  schools  in  which  I 
have  found  the  instruction  I  needed,  have  been  the  nurseries 
and  firesides  to  which  I  have  been  admitted,  often  through 
my  loving  interest  in  the  little  flowers  that  bloomed  around 
them.  I  could  tell  you,  if  I  dared,  how  many  times  I  have 
wished  I  could  be  queen  of  such  kingdoms,  for  the  sake  of 
the  younger  subjects  of  those  realms,  for  I  have  learned 
quite  as  much  from  the  mistakes  as  from  the  wisdom  I  have 
witnessed. 

My  desire  to  gather  all  I  could,  from  the  efforts  and  ex- 
perience of  others,  once  tempted  me  on  an  exploring  expe- 
dition through  our  much  vaunted  Primary  Schools.     What 
5* 


106  MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

would  you  say  if  I  were  to  tell  you  that  I  met  with  but  one 
spirit  kindred  to  my  own  in  the  whole  circuit  ?  Among  all 
the  hard,  knotty  women,  young  and  old,  whom  I  found  pre- 
siding over  youthful  destinies  in  this  extensive  organization, 
I  found  one  lovely  young  creature  who  loved  all  her  scholars, 
and  who,  by  the  power  of  this  love,  contrived  partially  to 
mitigate  the  horrors  of  benches  without  backs,  long  rote 
spelling-lessons,  crowded  and  ill-ventilated  rooms,  tedious 
periods  of  idleness  in  which  little  darlings  had  to  sit  up 
straight  and  not  speak  or  fidget  (which  last  I  consider  one  of 
the  prerogatives  of  childhood).  Her  face  radiated  sunshine, 
her  voice  was  music  itself,  and  yet  firm,  and  she  often  varied 
her  routine  of  exercises,  prescribed  by  the  primary  school 
committee,  with  a  pleasant  little  story  to  illustrate  some  prin- 
ciple she  wished  the  children  to  act  upon.  She  was  the  only 
one  who  had  interpolated  a  regular  entertaining  lesson  into 
the  routine,  and  this  she  effected  by  nipping  some  or  the 
prescribed  lessons  five  minutes  each,  so  as  to  save  twenty  for 
her  little  treatise  upon  some  interesting  subject  of  natural  his- 
tory. I  quite  agreed  with  her  that  it  was  a  species  of  petty 
larceny  for  which  she  would  be  acquitted  in  the  courts  above. 
I  could  describe  sad,  heart-breaking  scenes  of  youthful 
misery  and  terror,  injustice  and  daily  cruelty  in  these 
schools.  In  several  cases  my  indignation  was  so  much 
aroused  that  I  was  obliged  to  leave  the  room  to  avoid  show- 
ing my  excited  feelings.  My  sympathy  for  suppressed 
yawns,  limbs  suddenly  outstretched,  or  wry  faces  made  be- 
hind the  teachers'  backs ;  tearful  eyes,  sleepy  little  heads 
nodding  on  fat  shoulders,  was  so  great,  that  I  often  smiled 
upon  them  when  the  teacher  did  not  see  me.  I  returned 
to  my  own  little  free  republic,  after  spending  one  of  my 
vacation  weeks  thus,  more  resolved  than  ever  not  to  coerce 
babes  into  the  paths  of  knowledge.  Many  a  spine  had  its 
first  bend  there,  I  doubt  not,  and  many  a  child  learned  to 
hate  school  in  such  scenes  of  discomfort.  I  have  no  doubt 
there  were  among  the  teachers  many  conscientious  ones  who 
did  as  well  as  they  knew  how  under  such  a  system.  If  such 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        107 

schools  could  be  presided  over  by  genius,  and  such  geniuses 
could  be  left  to  their  own  judgment  about  what  to  teach  and 
how  to  teach  it,  the  experience  of  Mr.  Alcott  in  his  first  In- 
fant School  among  the  poor  of  the  North  End  proves  that 
primary  Education  can  be  made  for  all,  what  we  can  make 
it  who  have  the  advantage  of  teaching  in  our  own  parlors. 

It  is  astonishing  to  me  that  greater  improvements  have 
not  already  been  made  in  this  public  school  education. 
Often  when  I  am  sitting  in  my  pleasant  school-room  with 
these  favored  children  of  wealthy  parents  around  me,  my 
thoughts  recur  to  those  crowded  rooms,  and  the  only  remedy 
I  see  is,  that  school  committees  shall  be  formed  of  women.  I 
believe  many  of  the  women  I  saw  teaching  in  those  primary 
schools  would  do  better  if  left  to  they*  own  instincts  about 
the  children.  They  have  no  liberty  whatever,  except  such 
stolen  liberty  as  I  mentioned  in  the  case  of  Miss  E.  What 
do  men  know  about  the  needs  of  little  children  just  out  of 
nurseries  ?  If  I  were  one  of  the  school  committee,  with 
carte  blanche,  I  would  have  "  stir-the-mush "  or  "  puss-in- 
the-corner"  among  the  exercises,  with  singing  every  hour, 
and  marching  and  clapping  of  hands.  And  I  would  have 
well-ventilated  rooms  instead  of  such  hot,  suffocating  places, 
warmed  by  large  iron  stoves. 

And  as  I  see  the  poor  and  neglected  children  in  the 
streets,  or  in  their  own  wretched  houses,  and  how  they  live 
and  grovel  in  low  practices,  gradually  losing  the  sweet  inno- 
cence of  infantile  expression,  and  becoming  coarse  and  vio- 
lent, even  brutal,  I  wonder  still  more  at  the  torpidity  of 
society  upon  this  subject.  Nothing  is  such  a  proof  of  its 
selfishness  as  this  neglect.  Nothing  makes  me  feel  so  keen- 
ly the  need  of  a  new  organization  of  things.  I  do  not  like 
the  thought  of  merging  the  sacred  family  relation  in  com- 
munities where  all  live  together  in  public  as  it  were,  but  it 
seems  as  if  something  might  be  done  for  the  children  of  the 
needy  thatt  is  not  yet  done.  These  poor  city  children  are 
sequestered  even  from  the  influences  of  Nature.  How 


108        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

strange  that  the  more  favored  individuals  should  not  seek 
every  means  to  give  them  what  culture  they  can  have  amid 
these  brick  walls.  So  much  might  be  done  by  the  help  of 
the  salient  imagination  of  childhood,  that  we  should  be 
helped  more  than  half  way  by  blessed  Nature  herself.  I 
often  take  an  unfashionable  walk  inside  the  Mall  on  Sunday 
afternoon,  when  the  Irish  people  bring  their  babes  to  play 
upon  the  green.  I  think  it  is  the  best  institution  in  the  city, 
and  it  would  be  a  good  idea  to  appoint  a  Commissioner  in 
each  ward  to  bring  all  the  street  children  there  every  day 
and  watch  them  while  they  play,  and  see  that  all  have  fair 
play.  If  school  committees  were  formed  of  women,  I  think 
such  an  office  might  be  created. 

What  faith  we  need,  to  forgive  heaven  for  the  things  that 
are!  "  How  much  that  is,  is  not  right!,"  I  am  sometimes 
tempted  to  exclaim.  I  have  no  idea,  however,  that  Pope 
meant  anything  but  the  eternal  is,  when  he  wrote  "  What- 
ever is,  is  right."  It  would  have  been  better  for  superficial 
thinkers,  if  he  had  never  said  it  however,  for  I  often  hear  it 
quoted  to  defend  what  I  consider  the  marring,  not  the 
making  of  God's  plans.  I  have  no  doubt  there  is  a  remedy 
for  every  individual  case  of  misery  in  this  world,  if  eyes 
were  only  open  to  see  it,  but  this  couching  process  is  the 
needful  thing,  and  that  God  has  left  us  to  think  out  for  our- 
selves. We  know  that  there  are  millions  who  live  and  die 
in  ignorance  of  all  that  makes  God  God,  or  a  Father.  To 
these  he  is  only  the  being  that  created  them,  and  they  may 
well  ask,  "  Why  did  he  make  us  ?  to  suffer?  to  sin?"  —  for 
they  are  conscious  only  of  the  irregularities  of  that  creation 
by  which  they  are  tortured.  They  never  see  the  wonderful 
adaptation  of  things  to  each  other ;  —  they  know  nothing  of 
the  harmonies  of  their  being  with  the  being  of  others,  or  with 
Nature.  The  sort  of  education  they  get  in  cities,  where  life 
is  stirring  briskly  around  them,  and  each  one  seems  scramb- 
ling to  get  the  best  morsel  for  himself,  only  makes  them 
worse,  unless  something  is  done  to  evoke  order  for  them  out 


MORA.L  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.  109 

of  this  chaos.  Their  belief  in  Deity  is  a  superstitious  feeling 
about  some  supernatural  power  that  exercises  dominion  over 
them,  and  subjects  them  to  an  imperious  necessity.  In  the 
agony  of  death  they  cry  aloud  for  fear  ;  for  they  know  they 
have  made  their  fellow-men  suffer,  and  death  is  a  mirror 
that  holds  them  up  to  themselves.  Conscience  breathes  upon 
the  glass,  and  in  the  dissolving  picture  its  countenance  is 
recognized,  —  but  this  is  a  base  fear,  and  cannot  be  called  an 
aspiration.  To  make  sure  the  foundations  of  faith  in  God, 
one  must  know  what  God  has  done  for  him.  Man  must  be 
made  acquainted  with  his  own  nature  before  God's  benevo- 
lence can  be  realized.  If  I  did  not  think  ignorance  was  at 
the  root  of  all  human  evil,  I  should  not  have  any  hope  ;  but 
though  its  kingdom  is  very  large,  no  despot  can  be  so  easily 
driven  from  the  throne.  I  hope  all  this  does  not  seem  ir- 
relevant to  the  matter  we  are  discussing ;  it  brings  me  nearer 
to  the  point  I  wished  to  reach.  I  believe  in  that  redemption 
which  knowledge  and  principle  combined  bring  to  the  soul 
that  has  slumbered  in  darkness.  Its  recuperative  power  is 
its  most  glorious  attribute.  The  tendency  of  the  character 
is  so  often  imparted  in  earliest  youth,  that  if  this  is  right,  if 
the  first  impressions  of  life  and  its  author  are  the  true  ones, 
the  rest  of  the  education  may  almost  with  impunity  be  left 
to  what  is  called  chance.  But  if  a  child  lives  to  the  age  of 
eight  or  ten  year=,  without  a  ray  of  light  which  will  explain 
his  existence  and  position  to  himself;  or  lead  him  through 
Nature  up  to  God ;  it  must  be  difficult  to  inspire  him  after- 
wards with  the  true  filial  feeling  toward  his  heavenly  par- 
ent. And  if,  by  a  longer  period  of  darkness,  he  has  found 
that  in  a  certain  sense  he  can  live  without  God  in  the  world, 
he  will  stand  a  poor  chance  of  realizing  that  he  cannot  do  so 
in  ordinary  life  after  the  period  of  impressible  youth  is  past. 
I  believe  the  soul  will  to  all  eternity  have  renewed  chances 
to  redeem  itself;  but  I  cannot  easily  give  up  this  first  life. 
When  I  think  of  the  beautiful  adaptations  of  the  world  to  our 
wants ;  of  the  exquisite  gratification  the  knowledge  of  thevo 


110        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

brings  to  the  mind ;  of  the  harmonies  of  our  existence  with 
all  other  existences ;  and  of  the  power  of  virtue  to  triumph 
over  the  earthward  tendencies  of  this  double  human  nature, 
and  to  sacrifice  the  present  to  the  future  good ;  —  when  I 
think  of  what  the  perfect  man  can  be,  —  I  cannot  be  recon- 
ciled that  one  should  live  and  not  have  the  keys  to  unlock 
this  part  of  the  universe.  Childhood  is  in  our  power.  The 
helpless  little  beings  must  be  taken  care  of.  The  world  waits 
upon  the  babe,  as  has  truly  been  said ;  and  is  not  this  one 
of  those  beautiful  provisions  of  Nature  which  show  us  how 

"  There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
Rough-hew  them  as  we  will!  " 

"  The  child  is  father  of  the  man,"  indeed ;  and  while  the 
heart  bounds  lightly,  let  us  teach  this  youthful  father  the  re- 
ligion of  Nature,  which  he  can  understand.  When  he  comes 
to  riper  years  he  will  be  ready  to  comprehend  the  religion  of 
the  Spirit,  without  danger  of  superstition  or  bigotry. 

One  obstacle  to  such  instruction  in  Christendom  is,  doubt- 
less, the  very  prevalent  feeling  that  the  study  of  Nature  leads 
to  scepticism  about  revealed  religion.  This  injury  has  been 
done  to  religion's  self  by  the  fact  that  a  few  learned  men  have 
been  scoffers  at  Christianity,  or  rather  at  what  has  been  ac- 
cepted as  Christianity,  and  it  is  the  association  of  their  names 
which  is  the  foundation  of  the  prejudice.  The  discrepancy 
also  between  the  discoveries  of  science  and  the  imagery  of 
the  Hebrew  poets  who  sang  about  creation,  is  another  cause ; 
but  since  Mr.  Silliman  has  ventured  to  say  that  there  prob- 
ably were  a  great  many  deluges,  the  ice  of  that  difficulty  has 
been  cracked  in  our  community. 

I  see  no  reason  why  simple  religious  lessons,  like  those 
Mr.  Waterston  gives  in  his  Sunday-school,  may  not  be  given 
in  the  public  schools.  You  will  say,  we  must  have  Mr.  Wa- 
terston to  do  it,  (and  that  is  true  indeed,  now,)  but  when  the 
public  mind  is  ready  for  such  instruction,  such  teachers  will 
come  up  to  supply  the  demand. 

My  first  introduction  to  natural  science  was  in  listening  to 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        Ill 

instruction  of  this  kind  given  to  children  older  than  myself, 
under  the  sanction  of  a  mother's  authority.  They  were  les- 
sons in  Astronomy  and  Chemistry,  given  before  there  were 
any  elementary  books  upon  such  subjects ;  and  they  so  kin- 
dled my  imagination,  when  a  very  young  child,  and  gave  me 
such  a  realizing  sense  of  the  presence  of  God  around  me, 
whom  I  had  already  known  as  a  Heavenly  Father,  who  took 
care  of  me  and  of  all  men,  by  night  as  well  as  by  day,  that 
from  that  time  I  never  lost  the  child's  sense  of  nearness,  or 
felt  any  of  those  fears  of  the  supernatural  which  haunt  the 
imagination  of  uninstructed  childhood.  And  yet  I  was  in 
the  habit  of  listening  to  the  stories  of  an  old  crone  who  be- 
lieved in  the  witches  of  Salem,  where  she  had  always  resided, 
as  firmly  as  she  believed  in  the  God  that  made  her.  When 
I  first  heard  the  remark  that  the  study  of  Nature  tended  to 
make  men  atheistic,  I  resented  it  with  indignation,  though 
but  a  child. 

This,  then,  is  the  kind  of  teaching  that  I  think  adapted  to 
childhood.  It  need  not  be  exclusive,  but  let  it  predominate. 
Other  faculties,  beside  the  emotions  of  wonder  and  venera- 
tion, may  be  cultivated  side  by  side  with  these.  Memory, 
comparison,  judgment,  and  calculation  may  be  strengthened 
by  a  judicious  and  well-proportioned  teaching  of  the  elements 
of  languages  and  numbers,  thus  insuring  the  tools  for  future 
acquisition.  But  this  is  not  direct  food  for  the  soul.  The 
young  heart  is  full  of  love  for  its  parents,  of  delight  at  the 
knowledge  of  new  things,  and  these  affections  may  be  guided 
into  adoration  of  Supreme  Intelligence  ;  this  love  of  knowl- 
edge turned  to  its  source,  as  easily  and  naturally  as  the 
stream  flows  from  the  mountain  to  the  sea. 

Side  by  side  with  this  higher  cultivation  I  would  fkach  the 
eye,  the  hand,  and  the  ear  to  practise,  and  to  work  readily. 
The  pencil  should  ever  be  in  the  hand,  the  picture  before 
the  eye,  —  especially  when  the  objects  of  Nature  cannot  be, 
and  sweet  sounds  in  the  ear.  The  love  of  activity  is  suffi- 
cient aid  without  the  debasing  influence  of  emulation.  Facts 


112         MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

are  divine  teaching,  and  a  clear  perception  of  them  the  basis 
of  all  theories  ;  therefore  they  should  be  clearly  and  sharply 
presented  and  discriminated.  When  children  are  led  to  see 
their  own  ignorance,  let  them  understand  that  we,  who  ap- 
pear to  them  the  concentration  of  all  wisdom,  ("  Pallas-Mi- 
nervas,"  as  one  of  my  little  readers  of  Homer  called  me  one 
day),  are  also  ignorant  in  presence  of  the  universe,  which  is 
full  of  things  to  be  known,  and  they  will  not  be  discouraged, 
but  only  more  eager  to  learn  what  they  can  of  these  worlds 
of  knowledge ;  and  will  think  of  those  still  to  be  conquered 
rather  than  of  any  little  acquirements  of  their  own,  thus 
escaping  the  dangers  both  of  despondency  and  vanity.  Let 
children  lead  this  happy  life  till  they  are  eight  or  nine, 
and  let  it  be  so  full  and  blessed  by  love,  sympathy,  and  the 
play  of  the  creative  imagination,  that  it  will  lift  them  over 
the  rough  places  for  many  more  years,  while  they  shall  build 
stone  walls  and  towers  of  facts,  as  starting-places  for  future 
flights.  It  is  the  observation  of  every  experienced  heart  that 
the  most  hardened  sinner  may  be  more  easily  redeemed,  if 
he  can  be  reminded  of  an  infancy  of  purity  and  golden  sun- 
shine. If  true,  it  is  an  argument  for  prolonging  that  infancy 
as  far  as  possible,  that  the  recollection  of  it,  if  unfortunately 
dimmed,  may  the  more  surely  revive  in  those  deep  moments 
of  existence,  when  the  soul  is  thrown  back  upon  itself  for 
support  and  consolation ;  whether  they  be  moments  of  guilt 
or  of  sorrow,  of  disappointed  ambition  or  disappointed  hope, 
of  wounded  pride,  or  wounded  faith. 

I  am  aware  that  the  public  schools  are  the  hope  of  our 
land  and  its  glory,  and  schools  are  the  best  world  for  chil- 
dren to  crow  up  in  when  properly  regulated;  but  I  wish 
they  need  not  be  so  large,  so  that  there  need  be  but  one  sov- 
ereign in  each.  Still  more  desirable  is  it,  however,  that 
none  but  living  souls  should  ever  have  the  privilege  of  un- 
locking the  treasures  of  knowledge  and  thought  for  children. 
It  is  not  enough  to  have  deep  and  varied  acquirements, 
but  there  must  be  a  native  delight  in  communicating,  and  a 


MOKAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.  113 

sympathy  —  a  living  sympathy  —  with  every  human  being. 
These  alone  will  awaken  the  love  of  excellence  and  call  forth 
the  powers  of  the  mind.  No  one  should  ever  have  the  care 
of  children  who  does  not  love  them  because  they  are  chil- 
dren, or  who  can  ever  feel  the  undertaking  an  irksome  task. 
I  always  regret  to  see  the  occupation  entered  upon  as  a  last 
resort  for  a  livelihood,  or  by  those  whose  spirits  can  no  longer 
respond  to  the  touch  of  childhood.  It  must  be  a  strong 
spirit  that,  in  such  instances,  can  rise  again  to  meet  the 
bounding  hopes  of  fresh  being.  It  is  like  going  back  to 
principles,  when  our  experience  fails  to  answer  our  just  de- 
mands for  highest  happiness.  In  the  faith  of  childhood, 
which  knows  no  doubt,  we  can  see  that  one  experience  is 
not  the  test  of  what  our  birthright  is ;  and  while  we  do  not 
neglect  the  warnings  we  have  had,  we  must  never  think  that 
our  single  experience  has  exhausted  the  source  whence  truth 
flows. 

I  believe,  too,  that  the  germ  of  everything  is  in  the  human 
soul ;  and  this  faith  seems  to  me  essential  to  a  teacher.  Edu- 
cation is  not  the  creation,  but  only  the  bringing  forth  of  these 
germs,  and  that  alone  is  a  true  education  which  brings  them 
forth  in  fair  proportions.  To  make  children  learn  something 
tangible,  if  I  may  so  speak,  and  to  keep  them  quiet,  are  the 
usual  aims  of  a  teacher,  and  success  in  these  is  the  usual 
test  of  his  value ;  but  they  seem  to  me  not  to  be  his  highest 
merit.  I  have  often  waited  long,  and  I  have  learned  to  wait 
patiently,  for  anything  like  results.  There  is  a  certain  har- 
monious play  of  the  faculties,  to  the  production  of  which  I 
direct  my  efforts,  and  which  I  watch  for  with  intense  interest 
in  my  children,  (for  they  seem  to  me  mine,)  and  this  can 
never  be  cultivated  if  one  is  bound  by  any  formulas.  I  con- 
sider myself  fortunate  that  my  own  mind  has  always  enjoyed 
its  birthright  of  freedom ;  that  no  iron  habits  have  bound  me 
to  any  mechanical  system.  My  advantage  is  a  negative  one, 
perhaps,  for  I  never  had  much  training  of  an  intellectual 
kind,  my  physical  education  being  the  chief  object  in  my 


114        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

childhood.  I  was  at  least  saved  from  such  formality  as  en- 
abled the  teacher  of  a  distinguished  school  to  say  in  my  pres- 
ence, that  "  the  less  boys  understood  or  were  interested  in 
their  lessons,  the  better  the  discipline  of  study."  This  was 
surely  making  the  process  as  mechanical  a  one  as  the  motions 
of  a  trip-hammer.  But  there  you  have  an  immense  advan- 
tage over  me.  You  have  been  well  trained,  and  yet  meas- 
ured by  no  Procrustean  bed,  for  your  most  living  teacher 
never  wore  any  fetters  herself,  and  could  not  impose  any. 
Am  I  not  right  ?  Your  summer  retreat  has  been  "  twice 
blessed"  in  having  such  advantages  of  highest  education, 
added  to  the  influences  of  Nature,  which  you  so  dearly  love. 
You  are  bound  to  open  your  eyes  as  beamingly  as  she  does, 
upon  all  who  come  under  their  glance,  to  show  your  gratitude 
for  such  teachings.  I  well  remember  your  frequent  descrip- 
tions of  those  "  large  orbs  "  that  presided  over  the  most  inter- 
esting part  of  your  youthful  training.  I  have  seen  those 
eloquent  eyes  myself,  and  can  conceive  their  power  when 
animated  with  the  inspiring  pleasure  of  pouring  the  treas- 
ures of  thought  into  a  receiving  soil.  And  you  are  not  the 
only  one  whom  I  have  heard  discourse  of  this  source  of  in- 
spiration. Your  best  study,  too,  was  in  the  season  when  the 
reins  are  generally  relaxed.  The  time  when  I  received  most 
benefit  from  study,  solitary  and  unaided,  and  even  stolen  as 
it  was,  (for  the  family  decree  was  that,  I  being  an  invalid, 
must  not  study,)  was  when  I  pursued  my  lessons  in  an  or- 
chard, and  generally  in  a  tree,  or  sitting  in  the  baby's  breakfast- 
chair,  in  the  midst  of  a  shallow,  rushing  river,  under  a  sweep- 
ing willow.  I  was  brought  up  so  much  out  of  doors,  that 
walls  were  oppressive  to  me.  Indeed,  I  look  back  upon  it 
as  the  only  time  of  my  childhood  when  any  variety  of  influ- 
ences acted  upon  me  at  once ;  and  one  which  I  ought  not  to 
omit  to  mention,  was  a  much  admired  friend,  who  knew  how 
to  point  out  to  me,  leaf  and  flower  in  hand,  what  riches  of 
knowledge  were  stored  up  in  Nature  for  her  children.  I  do 
not  know  but  what  my  love  of  these  hidden  treasures  was 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         115 

stimulated  by  the  fear  of  being  deprived  of  them.  Owing  to 
this  fear  I  probably  arrived  earlier  in  life  at  that  point  which 
I  have  always  contended  was  the  great  point  in  education, — 
the  time  when  one  takes  it  into  one's  own  hands.  But  I  do 
not  think  that  your  "  two  outward  advantages  "  of  mother- 
hood and  education,  constitute  all  your  qualifications  for  the 
task  you  have  undertaken.  I  know  what  soil  was  warmed 
into  fruitfulness  by  the  rays  shed  from  the  sun  of  genius. 
Now,  you  art  bound  to  fulfil  my  hopes,  and  if  my  own  path 
is  not  smoothed  by  your  help,  I  shall  call  you  to  account  for 
my  disappointment.  I  will  give  you  my  small  experience, 
and  tell  you  how  I  found  out  methods,  because  they  were  not 
practised  upon  me ;  and  I  bid  forth  your  power  of  deducing 
theories  and  improvements  that  will  cheer  us  both  onward. 
For  want  of  more  interested  auditors,  I  often  pour  out  my 
plans  for  educing  order  out  of  the  little  chaoses  committed 
to  my  care,  to  ears  that  stretch  to  their  utmost  for  politeness* 
sake,  and  for  my  sake,  perhaps ;  but  not  for  the  thing  I  wish 
to  impart. 

LETTER  II. 

MY  DEAR  ANNA,  —  I  will  begin  by  telling  you  that  I  can 
do  the  thing  better  than  I  can  describe  it.  You  must  let  me 
tell  you  stories  out  of  my  school-room  to  illustrate  the  wis- 
dom of  my  proceedings.  I  can  hardly  tell  you  my  enjoyment 
of  the  fresh  affections  of  children,  of  their  love  of  knowl- 
edge (of  new  things,  as  it  always  is  to  them),  of  their  ready 
apprehension  of  principles,  of  their  quick  response  to  truth, 
their  activity  and  buoyancy,  their  individuality,  their  prom- 
ise. Sometimes  I  look  forward  for  them,  and  tremble  at 
what  awaits  them,  when  I  see  tendencies  to  evil  or  weakness. 
I  know  that  every  ill  in  their  various  paths  may  be  made 
stepping-stones  to  highest  good  ;  but  the  doubt  whether  they 
will  be  made  so,  the  certainty  of  the  long  and  sharp  pains 
of  conflict,  the  dying  down  of  hope,  (that  happily,  I  know, 


116  MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

can  yet  rise  Phoenix-like  from  its  own  ashes,)  these,  and 
many  perils  by  the  way,  that  my  brooding  heart  points  out 
to  me,  often  oppress  me,  and  I  could  wish  them  spared. 
When  it  is  remembered  how  man  has  marred  the  work  of 
God,  how  different  his  part  ought  to  be  from  what  it  is,  and 
how  long  it  must  be  before  the  individuals  of  the  race  can 
work  themselves  free  from  the  crust  of  evil  that  has  grown 
over  the  whole,  I  think  I  may  be  pardoned  for  these  heart 
aches  ;  but  I  know  they  are  not  my  highest  moments.  It 
has  been  deeply  said  that  pain  is  the  secret  of  Nature.  I 
have  that  within  me  which  responds  to  it.  I  must  feel  it  for 
others  as  well  as  for  myself,  and  shall  constantly  do  so  when 
my  faith  is  perfected.  I  am  grateful  that  I  exist,  for  I  can 
look  upon  what  we  call  this  life  as  only  the  beginning  of  a 
long  career,  in  which  I  shall  ever  look  back  and  rejoice  that 
I  have  been  a  human  being,  whatever  may  be  the  ills  that 
I  suffer  from  just  now.  The  consciousness  of  the  capac- 
ities of  expanding  intellect  and  of  glorious  affections,  assure 
me  that  the  destiny  of  the  soul  will  compensate  for  the  heri- 
tage of  woe,  which  this  life  is  to  many  of  us.  Thus  I  try  to 
look  beyond  the  conflicts  I  see  in  the  future  of  these  little 
beings  who  now  dance  joyfully  around  me. 

You  will  wonder,  perhaps,  that  one  can  conceive  such  a 
personal  interest  in  the  children  of  others ;  but  it  will  come 
to  you  in  time.  You  have  truly  said,  that  it  needs  all  the 
tenderness  of  a  mother,  and  her  vital  self-forgetting  interest 
in  the  result,  to  enable  her  to  find  the  true  path  of  Nature 
from  the  beginning,  and  remove  all  obstacles  to  free  unfold- 
ing. But  many  a  mother  sacrifices  her  elder  children,  as  it 
were,  to  this  discovery.  As  the  germ  of  the  maternal  sen- 
timent is  in  all  women,  relations  may  be  established  be- 
tween teacher  and  child  that  may  take  the  place  of  the  nat- 
ural one,  so  far  as  to  answer  all  the  purposes  required.  Such 
a  relation  is  the  only  foundation  upon  which  a  true  education 
can  go  on.  It  leaves  no  room  for  a  division  of  interests  be- 
tween child  and  teacher,  which  division  alone  has  the  power 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        117 

forever  to  destroy  all  the  best  benefits  of  the  communication 
of  mind,  and  is  generally,  indeed,  an  effectual  barrier  against 
any  communication  at  all.  Such  a  relation  as  I  would  have 
does  away  with  every  feeling  of  reserve  that  might  check 
the  full  and  free  expression  of  thought  and  feeling.  A 
young  child  should  turn  to  its  teacher,  as  well  as  to  its 
mother,  with  the  undoubting  confidence  that  there  is  a  wealth 
of  love  equal  to  all  occasions.  When  my  little  scholars  call 
me  "mother,"  which  they  often  do  from  inadvertence,  I 
feel  most  that  I  am  in  the  true  relation  to  them.  I  have 
in  some  instances  been  preferred  before  the  mother,  because 
I  was  the  fountain  of  knowledge  and  even  of  tenderness  to 
starved  and  neglected  little  souls.  A  very  sensitive  child  of 
seven  years  old,  who  always  said  "  can't,"  when  any  task, 
even  the  simplest,  was  set  before  her,  but  who  was,  never- 
theless, so  morbidly  conscientious  that  she  was  miserable  not 
to  be  able  to  accomplish  anything  that  she  thought  her  duty, 
took  an  opportunity  one  day,  when  she  was  alone  with  me, 
to  make  me  the  confidant  of  her  domestic  sorrows,  asking 
me  to  promise  1  would  not  tell  "  mother."  This  was  rather 
dangerous  ground  ;  but  I  knew  something  of  the  "domestic 
life  of  the  family,  and  that  the  tender  mother  of  it  was  often 
exasperated  almost  to  madness  by  the  cruel  tyranny  and  ex- 
actions of  the  father,  and  I  promised.  Then,  with  burning 
cheeks  and  trembling  voice  she  told  me  that  they  did  not 
love  her  at  home ;  that  her  father  despised  her ;  that  her 
mother  urged  her  beyond  her  strength  to  meet  his  require- 
ments ;  that  her  eldest  sister  treated  her  with  harshness  and 
ridicule  because  she  was  so  "  stupid,"  and  that  her  younger 
sisters  did  not  like  to  play  with  her  because  she  was  cross. 
I  saw  at  a  glance  why  she  always  said  and  felt  "  can't,"  and 
I  stood  awe-struck  before  the  endowment  of  conscience  in 
the  child  which  had  stood  the  test  of  such  trials  as  these,  and 
made  duty  the  central  point  of  her  being,  for  that  I  had 
already  known  to  be  the  case.  I  sympathized  with  her,  as 
you  may  well  imagine.  I  told  her  what  I  knew  of  the  vir- 


118        MORAL  CULTUEE  OF  INFANCY. 

tues  of  her  mother,  whom  she  tenderly  loved,  and  whose 
love  for  herself  she  felt,  but  could  not  enjoy,  because  its  nat- 
ural expression  was  lost  in  the  impatient  endeavor  to  hold 
her  up  to  her  father's  unreasonable  requisitions.  From  that 
hour  she  was  my  child,  and  could  work  happily  in  my  pres- 
ence. I  told  her  that  I  knew  she  always  wished  to  do  right, 
and  that  I  should  always  be  satisfied  with  whatever  she 
could  accomplish  ;  that  if  I  required  too  much  of  her,  she 
only  need  to  say  so ;  that  she  must  not  try  to  do  anything 
more  than  was  pleasant  and  comfortable,  for  only  thus  could 
she  preserve  her  powers  of  mind,  which  were  good,  and 
which  would  work  well  if  they  could  work  happily.  Through 
my  influence  she  passed  much  time  away  from  her  ungenial 
home,  with  friends  in  whose  society  she  could  be  happy  and 
unrestrained,  and  the  burden  was  lightened  so  far  that  she 
was  in  the  end  able  to  justify  herself,  and  take  a  happier 
place  in  the  family  circle  ;  but  she  was  irretrievably  injured 
both  mentally  and  morally,  learning  to  become  indifferent 
where  she  could  not  assert  herself,  and  the  battle  of  life  will, 
I  fear,  ever  be  a  hard  one  to  her. 

In  such  cases  one  feels  the  true  spirit  of  adoption,  and  this 
should  be  the  standard  for  the  general  relation.  I  do  not 
feel  satisfied  till  the  most  timid  and  reserved  are  confiding  to 
me,  smile  when  they  meet  my  eye,  and  come  to  me  in  the 
hour  of  trouble  ;  nor  till  the  most  perverse  and  reckless  take 
my  reproofs  in  sorrow  and  not  in  anger,  and  return  to  me 
for  sympathy  when  they  are  good. 

Nor  am  I  willing  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  educa- 
tion of  a  child  whose  parents  I  am  unable  to  convince  of  my 
vital  interest  in  its  welfare,  and  into  whose  heart  I  cannot 
find  an  entering  place,  while  at  the  same  time  I  speak  can- 
didly of  faults  ;  for  there  is  a  sort  of  magnetism  in  the  coop- 
eration of  mother  and  teacher ;  and  its  subtle  influence,  or 
the  reverse,  is  distilled  into  every  detail  of  the  relation. 
Sometimes  I  find  parents  who  do  not  know  enough  of  their 
children  to  interfere  at  all,  and  then  I  am  willing  to  do 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         119 

what  I  can  to  supply  the  deficiency.  The  school  should  only 
be  the  larger  family  for  them,  and  the  lessons  learned  should 
be  the  least  good  they  receive  from  the  daily  routine.  Still 
worse  off  are  those  who  are  educated  at  home  by  servants 
who  rule  in  nurseries,  and  so  long  as  they  keep  the  children 
quiet  are  not  questioned  much  as  to  the  means  by  which  they 
do  it.  Quite  aggravated  cases  of  oppression  have  come 
under  my  observation,  which  I  have  discovered  by  noticing 
the  sway  held  over  children  by  these  hirelings,  who  bring 
them  to  and  from  school.  I  think  I  should  never  risk  this 
evil  in  a  family  of  my  own. 

To  seize  every  opportunity  to  unfold  thought  in  a  natural 
way,  to  consider  duty,  to  awaken  and  keep  alive  conscience, 
and  cultivate  a  mutual  confidence  and  forbearance  between 
the  young,  should  be  the  aim  in  such  a  little  world  as  a 
school.  The  flow  of  happy  spirits  should  be  unchecked,  and 
no  deep  memory  of  faults  should  remain  with  a  child,  unless 
they  are  of  the  deepest  dye,  such  as  falsehood  and  selfish- 
ness. A  serious  invasion  of  each  other's  rights  should  be 
made  a  prominent  subject  of  blame,  but  the  only  retribution 
of  which  a  child  should  be  made  to  have  a  permanent  con- 
sciousness, is  that  of  the  injury,  or  the  danger  of  injury  to 
itself,  and  I  firmly  believe  if  this  can  be  made  apparent  to  a 
child,  it  may  be  the  strongest  possible  motive  to  keep  it  in 
the  path  of  rectitude.  It  seems  to  me  indeed  the  only  legiti- 
mate motive  to  present  to  a  human  soul.  I  do  not  mean  a 
selfish  regard  to  the  welfare  even  of  one's  own  soul,  but  that 
regard  which  includes  the  welfare  of  others  as  well  as  of  one's 
own.  I  do  not  like  to  say  to  a  child,  "  do  not  so  because 
if  you  do  I  cannot  love  you,"  for  that  is  an  outside  motive, 
but  rather  "  because  you  cannot  grow  any  better  if  you  do 
so  and  then  you  cannot  respect  yourself  or  be  worthy  of  any 
one's  love.  "  Do  not  grieve  dear  mother  by  doing  wrong, 
for  then  she  cannot  be  happy."  "  Are  you  not  afraid  if 
you  do  so,  that  by  and  by  you  can  do  something  more 
naughty  ? "  "  Is  there  not  something  in  you,  that  makes 


120        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

you  feel  very  uncomfortable  when  you  have  done  wrong? 
That  is  the  way  God  has  made  us,  so  that  we  may  grow 
better  and  not  worse."  I  have  arrested  very  naughty  doings 
by  such  remarks,  where  defiance  of  human  authority  was 
very  strong  and  determined.  I  have  awakened  a  similar 
fear  in  many  a  child  by  relating  what  a  dread  I  had  in  my 
own  childhood  of  growing  worse.  Nothing  is  easier  than  to 
make  a  child  false  by  frightening  it  or  blaming  it  too  much  ; 
but  nothing  will  make  a  child  so  ingenuous  as  to  convince  it 
that  you  are  interested  in  its  progress,  and  would  like  to 
help  it  cure  its  own  faults.  But  we  must  often  wait  long 
before  a  child  is  capable  of  taking  this  view  so  fully  as  to  be 
influenced  by  it,  in  opposition  to  the  dictates  of  passion  and 
the  weakness  or  immaturity  of  intellect ;  experience  teaches 
us  that  the  volatile,  the  obstinate,  the  self-indulgent,  the 
crafty,  and  even  the  indolent  must  be  influenced  by  the 
apprehension  of  a  nearer  penalty  or  the  power  of  a  more 
direct  authority  than  that  can  always  be  understood  to  be. 
Self-control  is  often  the  first  virtue  to  be  cultivated,  and  a 
fear  of  present  evil  must  sometimes  be  the  instrument  of  its 
cultivation.  A  distinguished  and  most  successful  superin- 
tendent of  an  insane  hospital  once  assured  me,  that  in  the 
majority  of  cases,  self-control  was  all  that  was  needed  as  a 
remedy  for  insanity.  I  asked  him  if  he  had  ever  known  of 
insane  children  ?  He  said  he  had  known  many  ;  and  that 
it  usually  appeared  in  the  form  of  unmanageableness.  If"we 
concede  that  all  evil  in  our  race  is  partial  insanity  (and  if 
we  believe  in  the  soul,  we  must  finally  think  that  the  crust 
of  organization  into  which  it  is  built  for  a  time  is  the  only 
obstacle  to  its  right  action,  and  to  put  one  parenthesis  within 
another,  which  I  know  is  not  canonical,  does  not  this  point  to 
the  duty  of  providing  against  evil  organizations  ?),  why 
should  we  not  treat  all  evil  as  insanity  should  be  treated, 
and  believe  that  if  the  power  of  self-government  is  cultivated, 
the  soul  will  take  care  of  itself?  In  this  connection  I  always 
take  health  into  consideration ;  for  one  wise  mother  of  my 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        121 

acquaintance  suggested  a  new  idea  to  me  by  once  telling  me 
that  for  certain  faults  in  her  children  she  always  gave  medi- 
cine, being  convinced  that  the  difficulty  lay  in  the  stomach. 

I  am  always  very  careful  to  disarm  all  fear  before  I  use 
any  authority.  I  find  much  timidity  in  children,  as  if  they 
had  been  harshly  dealt  with.  I  have  seen  fearful  looks  of 
terror  in  little  faces  when  I  have  approached  them  to  enforce 
a  request,  and  in  such  cases  I  either  take  them  gently  in  my 
arms  or  draw  them  close  to  me  with  a  caressing  motion, 
which  is  sometimes  all  the  punishment  they  need,  if  you  will 
allow  me  such  an  Irishism.  They  are  at  the  same  time  con- 
vinced of  my  earnestness,  and  disarmed  of  all  opposition, 
and  when  I  approach  another  time,  if  occasion  requires, 
I  can  lead  them  to  another  seat  or  even  out  of  the  room, 
and  enjoin  obedience  without  exciting  either  fear  or  opposi- 
tion. I  never  threaten  any  penalties,  but  execute  my  own 
requisitions  decidedly  at  the  moment,  "  because  this  is  the 
right  thing  to  be  done."  I  think  it  is  not  well  to  threaten 
for  next  time ;  and  where  punishments  are  mild,  such  as 
changing  a  child's  seat,  or  putting  it  into  a  room  alone,  or 
going  to  its  mother  and  talking  the  matter  over  in  presence 
of  the  child,  a  repetition  of  the  offence  may  be  avoided.  I 
have  one  child  in  my  school  who  would  crouch  down  upon 
the  floor,  if  opposed,  or  required  to  do  any  thing  she  did  not 
wish  to,  and  go  into  a  sort  of  hysteric,  protesting  that  she 
was  dying.  I  laughed  at  her  a  little  at  first,  but  I  soon  saw 
she  was  very  obstinate  and  very  passionate,  and  several 
times  on  such  occasions  I  took  her  up  in  my  arms,  though 
she  was  pretty  heavy,  and  carried  her  to  a  bed,  where  I 
laid  her  down  and  left  her  to  enjoy  her  performance  alorre. 
After  a  while  she  would  sneak  down  into  the  school-room 
again  looking  very  much  ashamed,  but  I  took  no  notice  of 
this,  and  after  two  or  three  experiments  she  was  entirely 
cured.  I  learned  afterward  that  she  had  practised  this 
device  successfully  upon  a  doting  mother  and  her  nursery- 
maid, who  really  feared  she  would  die.  They  were  much 


122        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

obliged  to  me  for  having  the  courage  to  meet  it  resolutely. 
She  has  become  a  charming  little  scholar,  for  she  is  as  full  of 
talent  and  affection  as  of  self-will,  and  has  been  sent,  by  my 
urgent  entreaty,  to  learn  calisthenic  exercises,  where  she 
expends  the  extra  fluid  which,  when  bottled  up  by  inaction, 
works  mischief  in  her.  She  was  formerly  unable  to  tie  her 
own  bonnet  or*  draw  on  her  own  gloves,  but  in  six  months 
she  has  so  changed  that  she  can  dress  other  children  as  well 
as  herself,  and  climbs  the  banisters  and  perches  herself  fear- 
lessly upon  the  tops  of  the  doors,  greatly  to  the  terror  of 
other  little  children  of  luxury  like  herself. 

We  should  never  prevaricate  or  in  any  way  deceive  a 
child  for  the  sake  of  an  immediate  result,  for  that  is  not 
being  true  to  principle,  but  we  may  be  allowed  sometimes, 
ip  our  characters  of  mothers  and  teachers,  to  act  as  that 
"  near  Providence,"  which  the  mother  has  so  happily  been 
said  to  be.  In  God's  government,  some  penalty,  though 
often  a  hidden  one,  is  the  consequence  of  every  transgres- 
sion of  law  ;  and  do  we  not  in  a  small  measure  act  to  the 
child  as  hi§,  representatives  ?  It  is  a  dangerous  power  to 
have  dominion  over  another  soul,  even  for  a  time ;  but  since 
it  is  actually  given  to  us,  are  we  not  bound  to  make  use  of 
it,  conscientiously  and  tenderly,  but  still  to  make  use  of  it  ? 
I  once  knew  a  father  who  thought,  because  he  was  not  him- 
self perfect,  that  he  had  no  right  to  exact  obedience  from 
his  children.  His  retribution  for  this  morbid  conscientious- 
ness was  most  deplorable.  One  child  became  insane  from 
want  of  self-control,  which  he  would  not  allow  her  to  be 
taught;  and  another  failed  to  have  any  sentiment  of  duty 
toward  God  or  man,  but  passed  many  years  of  life  without 
apparently  knowing  that  any  duty  was  required  of  him. 
Worldly  prosperity  in  his  case  only  increased  the  evil,  for 
he  was  never  obliged  to  make  an  exertion  for  himself  or 
others.  I  have  never  heard  that  he  was  vicious,  but  he 
could  not  live  even  with  the  parent  who  had  allowed  him 
to  grow  up  unrestrained.  The  parents  surely  are  designed 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.   .      123 

to  represent  to  the  child  the  Heavenly  Father  whom  they 
cannot  see,  and  who  must  later  become  an  object  of  faith 
through  that  beautiful  analogy  of  parental  love  and  care. 

I  agree  too  with  one  of  the  best  and  wisest,  who  has  said 
that  it  is  not  necessary  to  reward  children  for  doing  right, 
since  God  has  so  made  man  that  doing  right  is,  like  loving, 
its  own  reward.  Only  those  who  have  thought  deeply  can 
make  such  discriminations  as  these,  yet  to  what  noble  mind, 
when  the  thing  is  once  said,  does  it  not  seem  base  to  give 
an  outward  reward  for  a  lofty  action  ?  And  is  it  not  a  broth- 
erly act  to  help  our  fellow-pilgrims  on  their  way,  by  giving 
a  friendly  warning  when  a  stumbling-block  is  in  the  path  ? 
I  think  children  can  be  made  to  understand  that  a  judicious 
punishment  is  a  friendly  warning,  if  not  the  first  time  we 
administer  it,  then  the  second,  or  the  third,  or  even  the 
fiftieth  time ;  for  as  we  should  forgive,  so  we  should  warn 
our  brother,  "  not  seven  times,  but  seventy  times  seven." 
I  learn  to  feel  that  if  I  am  actuated  by  the  right  motive  in 
my  dealings  with  their  souls,  (and  one  learns  to  be  very 
conscientious  in  meddling  with  them,)  my  pupils  will  find  it 
out  sooner  or  later;  and  then  they  will  see  all  that  I  have 
done,  as  well  as  all  that  I  may  do,  in  a  new  light. 

I  have  a  bright  little  fellow  in  my  school  who  had  ac- 
quired a  sad  habit  of  sucking  his  thumb.  I  thought  he 
actually  began  to  grow  thin  upon  it.  I  had  checked  him 
many  times,  and  he  was  good  about  it,  but  the  habit  was 
too  strong  for  him.  One  day  I  drew  on  a  little  conversa- 
tion about  helping  each  other  out  of  difficulties,  which  all 
agreed  to  ;  and  all  professed  themselves  willing  to  be  helped 
and  to  listen  to  warnings.  I  then  said  there  was  one  in  the 
school  whom  I  wished  to  cure  of  a  bad  habit,  and  I  had  a  plan 
for  doing  it,  but  its  success  must  depend  upon  whether  he  was 
willing,  and  upon  whether  the  rest  would  be  really  friendly 
and  not  laugh  at  him,  or  tease  him,  but  help  him  in  every 
way  they  could.  They  were  very  desirous  to  know  who  and 
what  it  was,  and  very  sure  they  would  do  all  that  was  de- 


124         MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

sired.  I  then  spoke  to  little  W ,  who  was  only  six,  or 

at  most,  seven  years  old,  and  asked  him  if  he  was  willing  to 
let  me  tie  that  hand  behind  him  that  he  might  be  cured  of 
sucking  his  thumb ;  for  I  knew  of  no  other  way.  I  told  him 
it  would  try  his  patience  ;  for  it  was  his  right  hand,  and  he 
would  have  to  be  dependent  upon  others  for  many  things, 
and  often  would  find  it  very  inconvenient  and  annoying. 
After  I  had  impressed  him  fully  with  the  importance  of  the 
matter,  he  consented,  and  the  rest  of  the  children  promised 
to  be  attentive  to  his  wants.  I  never  tied  the  hand  behind 
him  till  he  put  the  thumb  into  his  mouth ;  but  it  had  to  be 
done  every  day  for  a  fortnight.  He  bore  it,  and  all  the 
inconveniences,  like  a  hero,  and  not  one  child  forgot  to  be 
considerate  and  helpful.  He  was  cured  of  the  trick,  and  he 
has  been  an  object  of  great  interest  among  his  companions 
ever  since,  because  they  helped  to  do  him  good. 

Perhaps,  dear  A ,  you  will  think  I  dwell  longer  than 

necessary  upon  this  subject,  knowing  as  we  do  that  the  usual 
fault  of  schools  is  too  much  penalty,  and  too  much  low 
motive ;  but  you  and  I  are  surrounded  Ijy  those  who  are 
inclined,  by  their  tendency  of  thought,  to  forget  practical 
•wisdom ;  who,  in  their  lively  sense  that  immortality  begins 
now,  and  is  not  a  distant  good,  —  a  sort  of  reward  for  well- 
doing, are  in  danger  of  forgetting  that  we  are  to  be  educated 
by  circumstances,  and  that  circumstances  ivill  educate  us, 
whether  we  direct  them  or  not,  in  this  beginning  of  our 
long  career.  Those  who  have  most  faith  in  the  soul  and 
its  ultimate  power  to  work  itself  free  from  all  impediments, 
are  most  apt  to  despise  all  the  minor  aids  that  may  help  its 
first  steps. 

Then'  there  is  another  class  of  persons,  who  do  not  believe 
in  the  soul  enough  to  think  education  of  any  use.  They 
cannot  very  well  tell  you  what  they  do  believe ;  in  truth 
they  have  no  faith  in  anything,  but  finding  it  hard  to  control 
circumstances,  and  seeing  instances  of  great  failure  where 
there  have  been  most  appliances,  (they  do  not  consider 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        125 

whether  these  appliances  were  wisely  administered,)  they 
give  all  up  to  chance,  and  believing  neither  in  innate 
ideas  nor  in  the  use  of  means,  rest  satisfied  with  a  low 
standard  of  action,  and  go  through  life  without  ever  having 
a  glimpse  of  anything  better  than  themselves.  Indeed,  if 
they  see  anything  better,  they  understand  it  so  little,  that 
they  think  it  must  be  a  delusive  appearance,  and  that  an 
earnest  view  of  any  subject  is  extravagance,  or  even  in- 
sanity. But  I  do  not  think  so  great  a  want  of  faith  is  very 
common. 

This  is  too  long  a  letter,  so  good-by  for  the  present.  When 
I  think  you  are  rested  from  this,  I  will  write  again. 

M. 

LETTER  III. 

MY  DEAR  ANNA,  —  Let  me  introduce  you  to  my  little 
family.  It  consists  of  twenty  children,  some  of  whom  have 
been  under  my  care  for  three  years.  These  latter  are  eight 
in  number,  and  from  nine  to  twelve  years  of  age ;  then  I 
have  six  who  are  not  seven  years  old,  who  know  how  to  read 
pretty  well,  but  who  study  no  lessons  more  difficult  than  a 
simple  bit  of  poetry,  the  names  of  a  few  places  on  the  map, 
a  list  of  words  from  the  black-board  of  the  parts  of  a  flower, 
or  an  interlined  Latin  fable,  which  I  give  them  thus  early, 
because  Latin  is  one  of  the  elements  of  our  language,  and  its 
forms  are  so  definite  that  it  gives  definiteness  to  ideas.  These 
children  print,  write,  draw  from  outlined  forms  and  blocks, 
as  well  as  from  their  own  fancies,  and  listen  to  all  sorts  of 
information  which  I  give  them  orally,  and  which  they  recount 
to  me  again  when  questioned.  I  tell  a  great  many  stories 
over  maps,  which  are,  in  my  dominions,  not  only  lines 
running  hither  and  thither  with  a  few  names  interspersed, 
but  real  mountains,  rivers,  lakes,  and  seas,  which  I  clothe 
with  verdure,  and  people  with  all  kinds  of  animate  forms, 
such  as  beasts,  birds,  fishes,  and  William  Tells,  or  other  in- 


126        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

teresting  individuals  and  tribes.  I  have  a  book,  called 
"  Wonders  of  the  World,"  which  is  my  Aladdin's  lamp,  and 
when  I  take  it  down,  little  hands  are  clapped  and  bright  eyes 
glisten. 

But  I  must  not  forget  to  mention  my  other  six,  who  are 
sweet  little  buds  of  promise  as  one  can  well  imagine  ;  who 
love  to  hear  stories  about  all  living  things,  from  oysters  up 
through  the  more  intelligent  shell-fish  that  have  heads  as 
well  as  a  foot,  to  small  pink  pigs  and  their  mothers,  butter- 
flies, birds,  dogs,  horses,  cows,  and  fellow-children ;  and  to 
learn  that  their  stockings  are  made  of  wool  that  grew  on  the 
back  of  a  lamb,  their  shoes  of  the  skin  of  a  calf,  their  rib- 
bons from  the  cocoons  of  a  moth,  the  table  of  a  tree,  &c.,  &c. 
These  little  people  were  committed  to  my  keeping  directly 
out  of  their  mothers'  or  their  nurses'  arms.  I  am  always 
diffident  about  taking  the  place  of  the  former,  but  rejoice  to 
rescue  babes  from  the  care  of  the  latter. 

The  first  thing  to  be  taught  these,  is  how  to  live  happily 
with  each  other ;  the  next,  how  to  use  language.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  wait  till  they  can  read  before  we  begin  this  last 
instruction.  They  love  dearly  to  repeat  the  words  of  simple 
poetry  or  of  poetic  prose,  (Mrs.  Barbauld  is  my  classic  for 
babes,)  and  it  is  curious  to  see  how  synthetical  are  their  first 
mental  operations,  and  how  difficult  they  find  it  to  disentangle 
the  words  of  a  short  sentence,  which  evidently  has  hitherto 
been  but  one  word  of  many  syllables.  Names  of  things  can 
be  made  to  stand  forth  distinctly  before  other  words,  because 
the  objects  of  the  senses  do ;  but  when  I  first  ask  children  of 
three  or  four  years  old  to  make  sentences  and  put  in  the  and 
and,  their  pleasure  in  recognizing  the  single  word  is  even, 
greater,  and  they  will  amuse  themselves  a  great  deal  with 
the  exercise,  running  to  me  to  whisper,  "just  now  I  said 
the ; "  or,  "  Charley  said  and"  If  the  printed  word  is 
pointed  out  at  the  same  time,  it  is  still  more  interesting, 
because  then  it  becomes  an  object  of  the  senses,  a  real  thing, 
just  as  much  as  the  book  it  is  printed  in.  You  know  I  take 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        127 

the  royal  road  to  the  attainment  of  this  art,  and  teach  words 
first,  not  letters.  I  find  this  a  much  better  as  well  as  happier 
way,  for  a  word  is  a  whole  host  of  thoughts  to  a  young  child, 
and  three  words  in  a  row  a  whole  gallery  of  pictures.  Bird, 
nest,  tree  !  If  a  child  has  ever  played  in  a  meadow,  or  even 
in  a  garden,  or  sat  on  a  grassy  bank  under  the  window,  or 
has  seen  pigeons  fly  down  into  a  city  street,  what  subject  of 
endless  conversation  does  this  combination  of  things  present ! 
The  book  that  contains  such  words,  and  perhaps  a  story,  of 
which  they  form  a  part,  is  itself  an  illuminated  volume,  and 
is  immediately  invested  with  a  charm  it  cannot  lose,  for  what 
child  (or  man)  was  ever  tired  of  the  thought  of  a  bird,  or  a 
tree,  to  say  nothing  of  that  more  rare  and 'mysterious  object, 
a  nest  ?  The  warbled  song,  the  downy  breast,  the  sheltering 
wing,  the  snug  retreat,  have  such  an  analogy  with  the  moth- 
er's carol  or  lullaby,  the  brooding  bosom,  and  the  beloved 
arms,  a  child's  dearest  home,  that  every  sentiment  is  enlisted, 
and  a  thousand  things,  never  to  be  forgotten,  may  be  said. 
There  is  no  need  of  pictures  on  such  a  page  as  this.  I  well 
remember  the  shining  pages  of  my  childhood's  books, —  a  lustre 
never  emitted  by  white  paper  alone.  I  doubt  not  the  ancient 
fancy  of  illuminating  the  works  of  great  minds  with  gilded 
and  scarlet  letters  grew  out  of  some  such  early  association 
with  printed,  or  rather  written  thoughts  ;  —  for  printing  was 
not  known  then. 

I  believe  you  do  not  approve  of  this  method  of  teaching  to 
read  ;  but  I  cannot  help  thinking  a  variety  of  experience  like 
mine  would  make  you  a  convert  to  my  mode.  I  claim  to 
have  discovered  it,  and  the  bright  little  six  years  old  rogue, 
upon  whom  I  tried  my  first  experiment,  learned  to  read  in 
six  weeks,  and  every  word  was  an  experience  to  him,  for  I 
made  up  the  lessons  as  we  went  on  from  day  to  day  right 
out  of  his  little  life.  He  would  scream  with  delight  to  see 
what  he  called  his  words  on  the  sheet  upon  which  I  daily 
printed  a  new  lesson.  I  have  no  doubt  every  name  of  a 
thing  looked  to  him  like  the  thing  itself,  for  his  imagination 


128        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

was  a  very  transmuting  one.  You  would  have  been  as 
amused  at  his  antics  over  the  word  "  and  "  as  I  was.  I 
only  introduced  such  oysters  of  words  occasionally  into  my 
gallery  of  pictures,  but  he  never  forgot  any  such  useful  mem- 
bers of  society,  though  I  think  he  could  not  have  made  pic- 
tures of  them.  One  great  point  is,  that  children  are  always 
happy  to  read  in  this  way ;  and  to  work  their  little  brains 
against  their  will,  seems  to  me  cruel.  It  is  quite  an  effort 
for  them  to  learn  to  observe  closely  enough  to  distinguish 
such  small  particulars  even  as  words,  with  which  they  have 
such  vivid  associations,  and  altogether  an  unnatural  one  to 
learn  arbitrary  signs,  to  which  nothing  already  known  can 
be  attached.  Until  I  was  convinced  that  this  was  the  best 
method,  I  always  found  myself  instinctively  helping  innocent 
children  along,  through  their  first  steps  in  reading,  by  means 
which,  at  the  time,  I  half  thought  were  tricks,  and  unsafe  in- 
dulgences. I  feared  that  I  was  depriving  them  of  some  de- 
sirable and  wholesome  discipline,  such  as  we  often  hear  of 
in  our  extreme  youth  from  nursery-maids,  who  tell  stories 
of  parents  who  whip  their  children  every  morning  that  they 
may  be  good  all  day.  But  I  will  never  again  force  helpless 
little  ones,  of  three  or  four  years  old,  to  learn  the  alphabet 
and  the  abs,  until  every  letter  is  interesting  to  them  from  the 
position  it  holds  in  some  symbolic  word. 

When  letters  are  learned  in  the  ordinary  way,  they  are 
often  associated  with  some  image,  as  a  stands  for  apple,  b  for 
boy,  c  for  cat;  and  these  associations  may  be  so  many  hin- 
drances (certainly  in  the  case  of  the  vowels)  to  the  next 
step  in  the  process,  because  they  must  all  be  unlearned  be- 
fore the  letters  can  be  applied  to  other  words.  In  our  lan- 
guage there  are  so  many  silent  letters  in  words,  so  many 
sounds  for  each  vowel,  and  the  alphabetic  sound  of  the  con- 
sonants is  so  different  from  their  sound  in  words,  that  I  do 
not  care  how  late  the  analysis  is  put  off. 

After  a  while,  I  string  columns  of  little  words  together,  in 
which  the  vowel  has  the  same  sound,  as  can,  man,  pan,  tan, 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         129 

and  let  these  be  the  first  spelling-lessons ;  but  I  prefer,  even 
to  this  mode,  that  of  letting  children  write  from  dictation  the 
words  they  are  familiar  with  on  a  page.  One  dear  little  boy 
came  to  school  three  months  before  he  wished  to  read,  or  to 
look  at  a  book,  except  for  the  pictures.  At  last  he  came  into 
the  class  without  an  invitation,  and  has  learned  very  fast, 
and  can  read  better  than  some  children  who  have  read 
longer.  He  is  a  perfect  little  dumpling,  as  gay  and  happy 
as  a  lark  all  day,  and  I  would  not  for  the  world  make  it  a 
task  for  him  to  use  his  brain,  thus  risking  the  diminution  of 
his  rotundity.  He  is  as  wise  as  a  judge,  though  he  has  not 
lost  his  baby  looks  ;  and  he  might  be  made  to  reason  subtly 
at  an  early  age  I  doubt  not ;  but  I  hope  all  such  powers 
will  be  allowed  to  slumber  peacefully  as  yet.  He  is  in  the 
mean  time  learning  to  read  slowly ;  to  print,  to  draw  houses, 
to  repeat  poetry,  to  sing  songs  about  birds,  bees,  and  lambs, 
and  to  have  as  much  fun  between  these  exercises  as  I  can 
furnish  him  with,  —  the  latter  in  another  apartment,  of 
course.  I  have  taken  no  pains  to  teach  him  his  letters.  I 
have  a  great  repugnance  to  letters,  with  their  many  different 
sounds,  so  puzzling  to  the  brain;  —  but  one  day,  finding  he 
knew  some  of  them,  I  pointed  to  g,  and  asked  him  if  he  knew 
the  name  of  it.  He  said  "  grass,"  which  was  the  first  word 
in  which  he  had  seen  g.  So  to  he  first  called  "  water,"  for 
the  same  reason.  I  gave  him  their  sounds,  but  not  their 
alphabetical  names.  I  was  obliged  to  give  him  two  sounds 
for  g,  one  hard,  one  soft,  and  he  soon  knew  all  the  consonants 
by  their  powers.  I  hope  he  will  not  ask  me  anything  about 
the  vowels  at  present.* 

*  All  these  difficulties  with  which  I  wrestled  so  many  years  in  my  char- 
acter of  champion  of  childhood,  are  entirely  solved  and  done  away  with  by 
the  more  ri-ceiitly.  introduced  method,  —  introduced  by  authority  of  a  dis- 
tinguished philologist,  of  teaching  the  Italian  alphabet,  and  alwa_vs  calling 
c  and  y  hard,  as  the  old  Romans  are  supposed  to  have  done.  This  mode  is 
made  practicable  in  the  "  First  Nursery  Reading-Book,"  and  thejast  edi- 
tion of  the  "  Primer  of  Reading  and  Drawing."  Abundant  experience  shows 
that  reading  taught  in  this  way  leaves  nothing  to  be  unlearned  in  English, 
6* 


130         MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

I  also  cut  out  the  words  children  first  learn,  as  soon  as 
they  can  put  together  a  few  in  short  sentences,  and  let  them 
arrange  them  to  correspond  with  the  sentences  in  the  book. 
I  have  devoted  one  copy  of  my  Primer  to  this  purpose,  and 
keep  the  words  thus  separated,  and  pasted  upon  card-board, 
for  such  use. 

I  know  all  children  learn  to  read,  and  some  children  learn 
rapidly,  but  I  am  always  interested  to  know  at  what  cost.  It 
is  a  very  important  question,  I  assure  you.  One  may  not 
realize,  at  the  time,  the  evils  consequent  upon  the  difficulties 
first  encountered.  The  actual  injury  to  the  brain  stands  first 
among  these.  We  grown  people  know  the  painful  sensation 
consequent  upon  too  long  and  too  fixed  attention  to  one  sub- 
ject, even  in  the  arranging  of  piles  of  pamphlets  which  we 
are  endeavoring  to  classify.  The  brain  whirls  and  experi» 
ences  chills,  and  the  whole  body  feels  it.  So  with  children, 
when  made  to  read  too  long,  before  the  eye  has  learned  to 
discriminate  words  easily.  The  child  is  told  that  it  is  naughty, 
if  it  does  not  continue  as  long  as  the  teacher's  or  the  mother's 
patience  holds  out  (as  soon  as  that  is  exhausted,  the  lesson 
is  sure  to  be  over).  How  false  this  is  !  A  little  child 
should  never  be  required  to  do  anything  intellectual  as  a 
duty.  It  should  not  be  required  even  to  love  as  a  duty, 
much  less  to  think.  Both  should  be  made  inevitable  by  the 
interest  inspired ;  its  mental  efforts  should  only  be  sports. 
Its  habits  of  self-control,  its  kindness,  its  affection,  should  be 
cultivated,  and  this  rather  by  example  than  by  precept. 
When  mothers  do  not  succeed  in  teaching  their  children  to 
read,  because  they  have  not  the  resolution  to  force  them  to 
it,  they  often  say  to  me,  "  Do  teach  the  child  to  read,  it 
will  be  a  great  resource  ; "  I  reply,  if  I  think  they  will  be- 

and  teaches  an  analysis  of  words  into  letters  which  contributes  very  much 
to  the  ease  of  the  subsequent  study  of  European  languages,  to  which  the 
sounds  of  the  letters  of  the  Italian  alphabet  apply  almost  without  an  excep- 
tion. Experience  upon  this  subject  has  given  me  confidence  in  the  general 
rule  of  never  teaching  exceptions  to  anything  until  the  rule  is  well  under- 
stood and  mastered. 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        131 

lieve  me,  that  their  instincts  have  perhaps  been  wiser  than 
their  understanding ;  but  if  I  see  that  they  are  unreasonable, 
I  reply  that  I  will  try,  reserving  to  m/self  the  privilege  of 
trying  just  as  much  as  I  please,  and  no  more.  I  can  gener- 
ally make  the  effort  to  read  a  voluntary  one,  if  I  do  not  find 
any  previous  painful  associations  to  do  away.  If  I  do,  I 
wait  patiently  till  I  can  replace  them  by  others,  and  in  the 
mean  time  make  books  vocal  of  such  enchanting  things  that 
the  desire  will  bubble  up  in  the  little  mind,  through  all  the 
rubbish  that  has  gathered  over  it.  The  pleasure  of  reading 
together  from  a  black-board,  on  which  the  letters  should  be 
printed  with  great  exactness  and  perfection  of  form,  in  order 
to  resemble  those  in  the  book,  often  gives  this  desire. 

One  little  fellow,  whose  perceptive  powers  are  sharper 
than  those  of  my  dumpling,  reflects  upon  himself  more,  and 
although  equally  fat,  appears,  from  a  certain  anxious  expres- 
sion on  his  face,  to  have  had  some  trials.  He  says  his  sister 
sometimes  "hurts  his  feelings."  He  thinks  some  words  are 
beautiful  and  "  full  of  pictures."  He  tells  very  small  fibs, 
such  as  "  Mother  says  I  must  read  those  words,  and  those." 
Do  not  suppose  I  let  this  fibbing  pass.  I  make  a  great  point 
of  not  believing  it,  and  of  comparing  it  with  truth,  and  of 
proving  to  him  that  his  mother  knows  nothing  about  it. 

Another  little  darling,  who  cannot  speak  plain,  says,  "  Oh, 
is  'at  feathers  f  Why !  is  it  feathers  ?  Oh,  now  tell  me 
•where  wings  is !  Oh !  is  'at  wings  ?  Oh  !  I  want  to  kiss 
oo." 

I  hear  these  little  ones  read  four  or  five  times  a  day. 
The  lesson  occupies  about  fifteen  minutes  each  time.  All 
"  study  "  together,  as  they  call  it.  I  put  my  pointer  on  the 
book  of  each  in  turn,  making  it  a  habit  that  they  shall  not 
look  off  the  book  for  the  space  of  three  minutes,  perhaps, 
during  which  each  reads.  They  keep  within  a  few  sen- 
tences of  each  other,  near  enough  to  think  they  read  together, 
as  I  detain  them  long  upon  the  repetition  of  all  they  know ; 
but  I  see  very  clearly  which  will  start  off  soon  and  outstrip 


132  M011AL   CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

the  rest.  I  say  nothing  of  which  reads  the  best,  but  some- 
times make  such  remarks  as,  "  L will  learn  to  read  very 

fast,  I  think,  he  is  so  attentive."     This  makes  L all  the 

more  attentive,  and  helps  the  others  to  make  the  effort ;  for 
with  these  four,  to  be  able  to  read  is  the  most  chai-ming  of 
prospects.  I  am  determined  that  no  touch  of  weariness  shall 
break  the  charm.  In  three  months  they  will  be  able  to  read 
the  two  first  stories  in  the  Primer,  which  occupy  about  two 
pages.  Their  eyes  will  by  that  time  become  so  accustomed 
to  analyzing  the  looks  of  the  words,  that  they  will  be  able 
to  print  them  without  the  book,  and  soon  new  words  will  be 
learned  very  •  rapidly.  I  stave  off  the  spelling  as  long  as 
possible,  but  you  may  be  sure  that  these  children  will  spell 
well  by  and  by.  I  am  convinced  of  this  by  experience, 
for  the  next  class  above  these  in  age  have  begun  within  a 
few  weeks  to  write  stories  of  their  own,  composing  instead 
of  copying  them  from  books,  as  they  have  done  for  two 
years,  and  I  am  myself  quite  astonished  at  their  spelling. 
They  have  never  spelled  a  word  they  did  not  understand, 
and  their  spelling  in  composition  is  better  than  that  of  some 
children  still  older  who  learned  to  spell  elsewhere,  and  who 
hate  spelling-books. 

One  of  my  exercises  in  thinking  is  to  ask  the  children  to 
tell  me  the  names  of  all  the  actions  they  can  think  of;  and 
to  help  them  I  say,  for  instance,  "  What  can  the  bird  do  ?  " 
"  What  can  the  fly  do  ? "  "  How  many  things  can  the  fly 
do  ? "  Another  is  to  ask  them  what  things  are  made  of,  and 
where  they  are  found,  "  Are  they  vegetables,  or  are  they 
from  animals,  or  are  they  minerals  ?  "  They  are  vastly  en- 
tertained by  this,  and  one  little  fellow  became  so  much  ex- 
cited, and  wearied  himself  so  much  with  his  investigations  at 
home,  that  his  mother  begged  me  to  suspend  the  exercise  for 
a  time.  Jemmy's  head  is  a  little  too  big  for  his  body ;  and 
the  look  of  research  in  his  great  eyes  gives  evidence  of  pre- 
cocity, the  thing  of  all  others  to  be  shunned.  His  mother 
has  put  thick  boots  upon  him  lately,  and  turned  him  out 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         133 

into  the  snow,  and  he  looks  like  a  butterfly  in  boots,  with  his 
ethereal  head  and  spiritual  erbs. 

I  have  but  one  child  under  ray  care  that  I  call  a  prodigy  ; 
and  my  influence  has  not  yet  been  strong  enough  to  check 
her  ardor  as  it  ought  to  be  checked.  She  is  sent  to  school 
because  she  is  happier  at  school  than  in  the  nursery,  to 
which  rich  people's  children  are  so  often  banished.  (I  never 
intend  to  have  a  nursery  in  my  house.)  This  child  has  been 
with  me  three  years,  and  is  but  six  now.  She  might  be 
made  one  of  those  wonders  of  learning  that  occasionally  as- 
tonish the  world,  if  the  plan  of  her  education  had  not  been 
to  supply  as  little  food  as  possible  for  her  cravings.  Fortu- 
nately she  did  not  ask  to  read  for  a  long  time,  but  I  have  not 
a  scholar  so  perseveringly  industrious,  so  absorbed  in  what- 
ever she  is  doing,  so  full  of  nervous  energy.  She  is  as  con- 
scientious as  she  is  intellectual.  I  have  never  had  to  repeat 
a  request  to  her,  or  to  subject  her  to  a  rule.  She  always 
sees  and  does  the  fitting  and  the  lovely  thing.  Before  she 
learned  to  read  she  would  sit  for  the  hour  together  with  a 
book  in  hand,  (upside  down,  perhaps,)  and  improvisate  sto- 
ries wonderful  to  hear,  in  which  the  characters  preserved 
their  individuality,  and  the  descriptions  of  nature  were  as 
vivid  as  those  of  a  poet  of  many  years.  She  was  quite  lost 
to  outward  things  while  improvisating  thus.  One  day  after 
school,  the  maid  who  came  for  her  not  having  arrived,  she 
threw  herself  on  the  floor,  and  began  a  story  about  a  naughty 
child.  I  cannot  now  remember  all  the  very  words,  for  it 
was  a  year  ago ;  but  the  qualities  of  the  heroine  were  a 
combination  of  all  the  faults  she  knew  anything  about.  If 
people  were  ill,  she  always  made  a  noise  ;  she  would  shut 
the  door  hard  if  told  that  it  would  make  people's  heads  ache. 
She  hid  other  people's  things,  and  would  not  tell  where  she 
had  put  them.  She  was  very  cross  to  her  little  brother,  and 
often  hurt  the  baby.  She  cut  valuable  things  with  the  scis- 
sors, tore  up  her  books,  and  left  the  pieces  of  paper  on  the 
parlor  carpet.  One  day  it  rained  very  hard,  and  her  mother 


134        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

told  her  not  to  go  out,  lest  she  should  take  cold.  She  was 
always  disobedient,  so  she  went  up-stairs  and  put  on  a  very 
nice  dress  and  her  best  bonnet,  with  blue  ribbons,  and  thin 
stockings  and  shoes,  and  nothing  to  keep  herself  warm,  but 
went  out  in  the  rain,  and  paddled  and  paddled  about,  and  wet 
her  dress,  and  spoilt  the  blue  ribbons  on  her  bonnet ;  and 
when  she  came  in  she  was  very,  very  sick  indeed,  and  had  a 
dreadful  fever,  and  people  slammed  the  doors  and  made  a 
great  noise,  and  she  had  dreadful,  oh,  dreadful  pains  in  her 
head  and  her  side,  and  she  could  not  eat  or  drink  anything ; 
and  at  last  she  died  and  did  not  go  to  heaven ! "  She 
stopped,  completely  out  of  breath.  After  a  few  moments' 
pause,  I  said,  "  Oh,  I  am  sorry  for  the  poor  little  girl  that 
was  punished  so  much.  Was  she  so  very  naughty  she  could 
not  go  to  heaven  ?  " 

She  made  no  reply  for  some  time,  and  then  recommenced 
in  a  low,  solemn  voice :  "  When  she  was  lying  in  her  bed, 
she  was  very  sorry  she  had  not  obeyed  her  mother,  and  a 
heavenly  angel  came  down  out  of  the  heavenly  sky  and  took 
her  up  into  heaven."  After  a  short  pause  she  burst  out 
again  very  energetically  —  "  Then  how  she  ramped  !  She 
trampled  on  the  clouds,  and  put  her  foot  in  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars ! "  I  made  no  further  comment.  I  rarely  in- 
terrupted her  utterances,  for  they  never  were  addressed  to 
any  one,  and  seldom  indulged  in,  unless  she  thought  herself 
alone.  They  were  picturesque  and  symbolical,  but  never 
vague.  The  moral  was  always  very  apparent.  But  her 
imagination  sometimes  clothes  objects  with  a  light  of  its  own. 
I  was  leading  her  up-stairs  the  other  day,  and  as  we  stepped 
into  the  hall,  we  saw  a  large  spider  running  before  us.  She 
dropped  my  hand  and  bounded  forward,  "  Oh,  you  beautiful, 
smiling  creature  !  "  was  her  exclamation. 

Would  not  a  bird  have  been  her  passport  into  paradise  at 
that  moment  ? 

Another  of  these  children  was  walking  in  the  mall  with 
me  one  day,  when  the  sun  was  shining  with  an  afternoon 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         135 

light  upon  the  bare  trees,  over  rather  a  dreary  landscape  of 
snow  and  ice.     '•  Oh,  the  trees  look  like  golden  twigs,"  said 
my  little  poetess,  so  full  of  joy  that  I  could  hardly  hold  her. 
This,  dear  A ,  is  the 

"  time  when  meadow,  grove,  and  stream, 
The  earth  and  every  common  sight, 
To  us  do  seem, 
Apparelled  in  celestial  light, 
The  glory  and  the  freshness  of  a  dream." 

To  return  a  moment  to  my  little  prodigy.  When  she 
did  not  for  a  long  time  ask  to  read,  she  wished  to  print,  and 
it  must  have  been  this  practice  which  gradually  so  accus- 
tomed her  eye  to  the  shapes  of  words,  that  when  she  sud- 
denly conceived  the  desire  to  read,  she  remembered  them 
with  marvellous  rapidity.  Everything  else  was  abandoned 
for  the  time,  and  in  the  course  of  two  or  three  weeks  she 
could  read  very  well.  I  had  often  seen  her  take  up  the 
books  which  contained  the  stories  she  liked,  and  I  supposed, 
at  first,  that  she  must  have  learned  to  read  them  herself  in 
some  unaccountable  way.  She  had  often  repeated  such 
stories  from  the  book  from  beginning  to  end,  word  for  word. 
But  I  found  it  was  not  the  case,  —  that  she  had  never  actu- 
ally read  them  before.  However,  I  never  could  trace  the 
hteps.  Spelling  she  does  not  find  easy.  Even  now,  several 
months  after  she  has  been  able  to  read  currently,  if,  when 
she  comes  to  a  new  word,  I  propose,  to  her  to  spell  it,  she 
will  mention  the  letters  (I  never  taught  her  their  names,  but 
she  doubtless  learned  them  while  printing  so  industriously), 
and  then  say  again,  "  What  is  it  ?  "  as  if  that  had  not  helped 
her  at  all.  But  she  never  forgets  a  word  after  it  is  once 
told  her.  She  joins  in  an  exercise  I  frequently  practise  with 
older  scholars,  of  spelling  a  few  lines  of  the  reading  lesson, 
but  she  is  not  so  ready  as  the  others,  although  none  read 
better,  and  few  as  well.  She  now  composes  stories  on  the 
slate  instead  of  improvisating  aloud  so  much ;  and  I  am  sur- 
prised to  find  how  many  words  she  spells  aright.  But  I  try 
no  experiments  upon  her,  as  my  plan  is  to  clip  her  wings. 


136         MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

If  she  was  enshrined  in  as  rotund  a  body  as  some  of  the 
other  children,  I  might  venture  a  little,  but  she  already  looks 
too  ethereal ;  —  one  sees  at  a  glance  that  the  sword  of  her 
fervent  little  spirit  might  easily  be  made  to  cut  its  sheath. 

Children  love  to  use  their  fingers,  and  I  give  them  a  slate 
when  they  come  to  school,  and  teach  them  to  print,  which 
accelerates  the  learning  to  read.  I  encourage  them  also  to 
draw  from  beautiful  outlines,  from  things  they  see  in  the 
room,  and  also  from  their  own  fancies.  I  draw  upon  the 
black-board  before  them,  very  slowly,  giving  directions  for 
imitation.  I  never  criticise  their  productions,  whether  suc- 
cessful or  not.  I  often  see  a  promise  in  the  freedom  of  a 
stroke,  or  in  the  child's  appreciation  of  his  own  drawing, 
which  an  unpractised  eye  could  scarcely  detect.  If  a  little 
child  brings  me  a  slate  with  three  marks  drawn  upon  it 
which  he  calls  a  horse,  or  a  dog,  can  I  be  so  unsympathizing 
as  to  question  it  ?  Perhaps  I  add  ears,  legs  or  a  tail,  and 
my  little  disciple  does  not  know  the  next  moment  whether 
he  or  I  completed  the  picture,  but  the  next  specimen  of  his 
art  will  probably,  have  at  least  one  of  these  appendages. 

I  drew  on  the  black-board  to-day,  a  square  house,  with  a 
door  in  the  middle  of  the  front,  a  window  on  each  side  the 
door,  and  one  in  each  chamber  over  the  parlors.  Two  chim- 
neys surmounted  the  house,  and  the  windows  were  divided 
each  into  six  panes  of  glass.  These  things  I  mentioned  as  I 
drew  them.  It  was  not  many  minutes  before  I  was  called  to 
look  at  two  houses  of  four  times  the  size  of  mine,  with  the 
additional  embellishments  of  stairs  to  go  up  into  the  cham- 
bers, one  of  the  windows  open  (which  I  thought  decidedly 
the  stroke  of  genius  in  this  artist),  smoke  from  the  chimneys, 
steps  to  the  doors  (my  house  had  been  left  hanging  in  mid- 
air), pumps  with  individuals,  I  cannot  call  them  men,  sus- 
pended to  their  handles,  and  various  other  hieroglyphics 
which  I  could  not  stay  to  hear  explained.  These  limners 
are  four  years  old,  their  faith  in  themselves  and  others  yet 
unshaken,  and  I  should  be  the  last  one  to  suggest  that  stairs 
could  not  be  seen  through  the  walls  of  a  house,  or  that  men 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        137 

were  not  lines  and  dots,  or  birds  as  large  as  houses,  for  I 
have  known  children  to  cry  at  such  criticisms,  and  to  be 
quite  checked  in  their  artistic  exploits  by  a  laugh. 

After  such  rude  practice  as  this,  the  child,  by  impercep- 
tible advances,  begins  at  last  to  see  things  more  as  they  are, 
and  then  a  little  criticism  is  safe,  but  it  must  still  be  guarded, 
sympathizing,  and  helpful.  The  next  thing  to  be  inculcated 
after  this  is  that  objects  must  not  be  drawn  just  as  they  are, 
but  only  as  they  appear.  I  made  this  remark  to  a  child  of 
seven  to-day  for  the  first  time.  He  had  learned  too  much  to 
make  similar  mistakes  to  those  of  the  little  people  lately  men- 
tioned, but  in  attempting  to  copy  the  drawing  of  a  stool,  he 
could  not  comprehend  how  the  rungs  that  joined  the  legs  of 
the  stool  could  be  drawn  so  as  to  look  right,  because  one  of 
them  could  not  really  be  made  to  pass  behind  the  leg.  I 
pointed  to  a  chair  and  told  him  to  suppose  he  was  drawing  it 
upon  the  wall  near  which  it  stood,  for  his  paper  represented 
that  wall,  though  for  convenience  sake  it  was  laid  flat  upon 
the  table.  I  asked  him  if  he  could  see  the  whole  of  the  legs 
farthest  from  him,  and  if  the  rungs  of  those  legs  did  not  pass 
behind  the  front  legs.  He  saw  it  clearly.  Then  I  told  him 
we  must  draw  things  as  they  appeared,  not  as  they  really 
were.  Nothing  must  be  drawn  which  cannot  be  seen,  al- 
though we  know  more  is  there  than  we  can  see  without  going 
behind  it.  He  was  delighted  with  this  discovery.  Now  he 
understood  about  the  rungs  of  the  stool,  and  also  why  two 
legs  appeared  longer  than  the  other  two.  The  stool  was  fin- 
ished intelligently,  though  not  with  elegance,  and  the  paper 
was  sprinkled  with  attempts  at  various  chairs  which  he  could 
see  from  his  seat,  some  of  which  really  looked  as  if  one  could 
sit  down  in  them,  and  not  as  if  they  were  flattened  out  and 
hanging  against  the  wall.  Sopne  of  the  legs  would  have  gone 
through  the  floor,  to  be  sure,  if  they  had  been  real  chairs,  in 
order  to  afford  a  comfortable  and  even  seat,  but  I  saw  that 
the  idea  was  seized,  which  was  quite  enough  for  my  unexact- 
ing  demands.  A  child  much  younger  and  less  practised,  drew 


138        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

the  same  stool  right,  without  a  word  from  me,  and  probably 
would  be  completely  puzzled  were  I  to  give  her  the  same 
explanation,  for  art  speaks  to  her  without  articulate  voice. 
I  have  one  little  girl  with  eyes  which  she  seems  scarcely  yet 
to  have  used.  I  took  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  teach  her  to 
draw  a  little  upon  the  black-board  last  winter,  but  if  I  drew 
a  perpendicular,  she  thought  she  imitated  me  by  drawing  a 
horizontal  line.  I  endeavored  to  wake  up  the  love  and  per- 
ception of  form  by  hanging  upon  the  board  various  exqui- 
sitely shaped  vases  and  leaves,  but  neither  these  nor  rectan- 
gular forms  aroused  her  imitative  powers.  I  never  ceased  to 
make  these  trials,  for  I  remembered  that  a  genius  in  that 
line  once  said  to  me,  "  the  art  of  seeing  must  precede  the  art 
of  drawing."  During  the  long  vacation  she  resided  in  the 
country,  and  nature  must  have  opened  her  eyes,  for  since 
she  came  back  to  school  (about  two  months  ago),  she  has 
actually  been  able  to  imitate  quite  intelligibly  some  of  those 
very  forms,  and  prefers  some  of  them  to  others.  I  assure 
you  I  enjoy  her  imperfect  performances  far  more  than  I  do 
the  successful  efforts  of  many  others.  A  German  friend  gave 
me  a  book  the  other  day  which  promises  to  pour  a  flood  of 
light  upon  what  I  now  look  upon  as  my  benighted  efforts  to 
simplify  to  children  the  art  of  drawing.  It  is  the  method  of 
a  man  of  genius,  discovered  after  much  groping.  He,  too, 
had  wooden  models  made,  and  stood  by  them,  and  pointed 
out  to  his  pupils  which  part  to  draw  first,  as  I  have  done,  but 
at  last  he  has  reduced  the  whole  thing  to  a  few  lessons  upon 
some  rectilinear  blocks,  a  niche,  a  cylinder,  a  grindstone,  and 
a  ball.  I  am  revelling  in  the  perfect  adaptation  I  see  in  it 
to  the  end  proposed,  which  is  practical  teaching  of  perspec- 
tive without  a  word  being  said  about  vanishing  points,  aerial 
perspective,  or  any  of  those  technicalities  which  weary  my 
unmathernatical  brain,  and  which  I  have  faithfully  adminis- 
tered to  myself  from  time  to  time.* 

*  The  work  referred  to,  by  Peter  Schmid,  of  Berlin,  was  subsequently 
translated,  and  published  in.  the  6th  vol.  of  the  Common^ School  Journal, 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         139 

To  vary  the  occupations  of  ray  cherubs,  I  let  them  write 
Foster's  prepared  copies  with  a  pencil,  which  helps  very  much 
to  regulate  the  motions  of  the  hand,  as  there  is  a  great  inter- 
est felt  in  tracing  each  mark  upon  the  blue  line.  They  also 
look  at  pictures  in  books  and  on  the  wall,  where  I  hang  all 
the  pretty  things  I  can  find,  and  tell  me  what  is  in  them  ; 
and  sometimes  amuse  themselves  at  a  table  of  shells,  where 
I  hear  them  recounting  in  low  voices  the  histories  I  have 
given  them  of  these  little  tenants  of  the  seas.  When  I  kept 
Caterpillars,  or  rather  raised  butterflies,  they  never  were 
tired  of  watching  the  chrysalides,  hoping  to  see  the  expected 
butterflies.  After  these  came  forth  in  their  glory,  we  were 
all  poisoned  by  handling  the  cocoons,  and  since  that  experi- 
ence of  itching  hands,  and  arms,  and  swollen  eyes,  I  have 
been  afraid  to  venture  upon  that  branch  of  natural  history. 
Shells  are  the  most  convenient  natural  objects  for  children 
to  handle.  We  talk  over  flowers  often,  and  I  teach  the  names 
of  their  different  parts,  and  encourage  the  children  to  make 
collections  of  leaves,  and  learn  the  names  of  their  shapes, 
preparatory  to  learning  the  art  of  analyzing  them  thoroughly. 
For  this  purpose  I  have  drawn  all  the  shapes  I  can  find 
named  in  botanies,  into  a  book,  from  which  I  teach  them. 
Flowers  are  better  for  teaching  beauty  than  botany,  to  little 
children,  as  they  object  particularly  to  tearing  them  to  pieces. 

I  have  not  said  one  word  about  my  little  Robin,  who  stands 
most  of  the  time  at  the  window  watching  the  horses  in  the 
stable  opposite,  the  scene  being  often  spiritualized  by  the 
descent  of  a  flight  of  pigeons,  which  he  generally  apprises  us 
of  by  a  shout.  Occasionally  he  turns  round  and  sits  down, 
and  watches  inside  proceedings,  and  when  an  interesting  story 
about  living  things  is  in  progress,  I  sometimes  find  him 
in  my  lap,  or  behind  me  in  the  chair  I  am  sitting  in.  His 

and  afterwards  in  a  pamphlet  called  the  Common-School  Draioing  Master. 
It  is  largel_v  used  in  the  public  schools  of  Germany,  and  formed  a  new 
era  in  Germany,  in  the  teaching  of  Perspective  Drawing,  as  truly  as 
Colburn's  First  Lessons  formed  a  new  era  in  the  teaching  of  Mental  Arith- 
metic here. 


140        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

eyes  are  blue,  and  his  long  golden  straight  hair  hangs  down 
from  his  tall  forehead  like  a  cleft  banner  of  light.  Robin 
will  not  look  inside  of  a  book  yet.  He  is  like  a  caged  bird 
in  the  city  where  he  is  imprisoned  in  winter.  In  summer 
he  lives  out  of  doors,  and  rides  on  horseback  on  his  father's 
knee,  and  holds  the  reins  in  driving.  His  mother  says  horses 
are  the  predominating  idea,  and  also  sentiment  of  his  life,  at 
present,  and  this  stable-peep  into  their  city  life  is  duly  re- 
counted every  day  at  home.  I  often  mourn  over  my  lo<t 
residence  by  the  Common,  where  the  children  who  looked 
out  of  window  could  see  trees  and  a  lovely  landscape,  but 
you  must  not  think  I  allow  my  scholars  to  be  pent  up  five 
hours  in  the  house.  Twice  a  day,  I  array  them  all,  summer 
and  winter,  and  take  them  to  our  city  paradise,  which  hap- 
pily is  very  near.  There  we  actually  see  a  squirrel  once  in 
a  while.  One  day  we  saw  a  butterfly  emerging  from  its 
chrysalis,  and  always  the  sparkling  water  and  waving  trees. 
And  we  have  clear  space  and  fresh  air  for  half  an  hour. 
If  you  will  not  tell,  I  will  confess  that  I  have  sometimes 
coasted  down  the  least  public  side  of  Fox-hill  with  a  babe 
in  my  lap,  and  I  find  I  have  not  forgotten  how  to  slide,  —  an 
accomplishment  in  which  I  excelled  in  my  youth.  In  wet 
weather,  I  put  on  some  of  the  out-door  garments,  open  a 
window,  and  have  a  merry  dance  or  play.  The  material  for 
the  early  cultivation  I  would  give  is  all  nature,  and  art  taken 
picturesquely.  The  nomenclatures  of  science  are  not  for  chil- 
dren, but  its  beauties  and  wonders  are,  and  may  be  culled  for 
them  by  a  skilful  hand  till  they  have  had  a  peep  at  the  wide 
range  of  the  universe.  I  believe  you  think  it  best  not  to 
open  these  store-houses  until  the  mind  is  capable  of  compre- 
hending them  more  fully,  but  I  cannot  think  so,  dear  Anna. 
Children's  love  of  nature  forbids  me  to  think  so.  I  once 
opened  a  little  soul's  eyes  with  a  bunch  of  flowers.  It  was 
a  child  who  had  never  been  to  school  before,  but  who  had 
not  been  cultivated  at  home,  because  her  mother  had  suffered 
from  being  over- educated,  and  wished  to  try  the  experiment 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        141 

of  nature,  as  she  called  it,  —  by  which  she  meant,  I  perceived, 
total  neglect.  She  had  allowed  her,  therefore,  to  grow  up  in 
the  nursery  and  in  the  care  of  servants,  both  of  which  I  con- 
sider as  far  from  nature's  teachings  as  possible. 

The  child  was  afraid  of  me  and  of  the  children.  She  looked 
at  us  for  about  three  weeks  with  a  fixed  gaze  as  if  we  were 
not  living  beings,  but  perhaps  walking  pictures,  her  features 
only  occasionally  relaxing,  I  should  rather  say  puckering  into 
a  wof'ul  wail,  which  expressed  utter  desolation  and  want  of 
comprehension  of  our  natures.  She  was  impervious  to  all 
my  blandishments,  which  I  lavished  more  bountifully  than 
usual  to  meet  the  case.  When  spoken  to,  she  answered  in 
a  monosyllable,  or  not  at  all.  When  she  wanted  anything, 
she  spoke  one  word  to  convey  the  idea,  as  a  savage  would, 
(she  was  five  years  old),  and  these  utterances  were  never 
voluntary.  She  liked  to  sit  close  by  her  brother,  who  was 
two  years  older  than  herself,  and  who  treated  her  with  great 
tenderness  and  gentleness,  though  every  manifestation  from 
her  was  of  the  roughest  kind.  I  was  sure,  however,  that 
I  did  not  see  the  whole,  for  his  manner  of  taking  her  hand 
and  saying  "  little  sister "  was  so  peculiar,  that  I  did  not 
doubt  she  was  genial  to  him  when  not  in  this  purgatory  of 
people. 

One  day  I  had  a  beautiful  bunch  of  flowers  from  a  green- 
house on  my  table.  This  child's  grandfather  owned  a  green- 
house, but  perhaps  she  had  never  been  allowed  to  handle  the 
flowers,  which  were  altogether  too  precious  for  children,  and 
wild  pinks  and  violets  had  not  been  accessible  to  her.  I  had 
been  trying  many  days  in  vain  to  interest  her  about  a  bee 
of  which  I  had  a  picture.  I  had  told  her  the  bee  made 
honey  out  of  flowers.  On  that  day  I  drew  the  tumbler  that 
contained  these  splendid  denizens  of  the  greenhouse  to  the 
edge  of  the  table,  and  said,  — 

"  Did  you  ever  see  a  little  bee  making  honey  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  Did  you  ever  go  into  the  country  in  summer  when  the 
grass  is  all  green  ?  " 


142  MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

"  No."  —  (I  knew  she  had.) 

"  Did  you  ever  see  pretty  flowers  growing  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  I  will  tell  you  how  little  bees  make  honey  —  did  you 
ever  eat  any  honey  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"They  have  a  long  hair  sticking  out  of  their  heads,  and 
they  put  it  in  there,  where  that  yellow  dust  is,  and  there 
they  find  a  little  sweet  drop  that  tastes  like  sugar,  and  they 
carry  it  home,  and  put  it  into  a  little  hole,  and  then  they  come 
and  get  more,  and  carry  that  home,  and  they  put  that  yellow 
dust  into  a  little  pocket  by  the  side  of  their  little  leg,  and 
by  and  by  they  get  enough  to  make  a  great  deal  of  honey." 

"  Do  the  bees  make  it  all  themselves  ?  "  said  she,  with  a 
brightening  look  (the  first  look  of  intelligence  I  had  seen), 
and  at  the  same  time  making  a  plunge  at  the  flowers. 

"Yes,"  I  said,  and  taking  them  out  of  the  glass  I  put  them 
all  into  her  hand,  for  I  did  not  even  know  that  she  could 
speak  plain.  She  seized  them  eagerly,  and  without  taking 
her  eyes  from  them  went  on  volubly  asking  a  great  many 
questions.  I  described  the  hive  and  how  they  all  lived  to- 
gether, and  told  her  God  must  have  taught  them  how  to 
make  honey,  for  they  could  not  speak  or  understand  any- 
body's words,  and  that  if  they  wandered  ever  so  far  away 
from  their  hive,  they  always  knew  the  way  back  again. 
She  held  the  flowers  all  the  rest  of  the  morning.  When 
school  was  done,  I  told  her  to  put  them  into  the  glass,  and 
she  should  have  them  again  in  the  afternoon.  As  soon  as 
she  returned,  she  very  unceremoniously  took  possession  of 
them,  —  the  first  act  of  volition  she  had  ever  ventured  upon 
in  my  presence,  —  and  nestling  close  to  me  asked  me  the 
same  questions  she  had  asked  before,  over  and  over  again,  and 
repeating  them,  and  hearing  my  answers  again  and  again, 
whenever  she  could  secure  my  attention.  As  long  as  the 
flowers  lasted,  she  seized  upon  them  every  day,  and  after 
they  were  withered  to  all  other  eyes,  they  retained  their 
charm  in  hers.  I  varied  the  lesson  often,  by  telling  her  of 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        143 

the  silkworm,  of  the  butterflies,  and  of  many  varieties  of  the 
bee  family,  and  from  that  time  a  communication  was  estab- 
lished between  us.  She  was  never  afraid  of  me  any  more  ; 
liked  to  sit  near  me ;  and  have  my  sympathy  in  all  things, 
provided  I  did  not  express  it  too  openly.  It  was  curious  to 
see  such  mauvaise  honte  in  such  a  tiny  thing,  for  she  was 
always  reserved,  and  often  relapsed  into  long  silences,  and 
was  wholly  without  enterprise  in  matters  in  which  the  other 
children  were  very  active,  such  as  drawing,  making  block- 
houses, and  even  playing.  But  I  could  catch  her  eye  at  any 
time  by  a  story  of  any  living  thing,  and  she  would  some- 
times surprise  me  by  the  intelligence  of  her  questions.  For 
a  long  time  she  could  not  learn  to  read,  or  rather  would  not. 
Every  new  attempt  at  anything  was  begun  in  tears  and 
despair,  not  from  weakness,  but  from  pride  apparently.  Her 
mother  had  begun  to  think  it  time  to  attend  to  her  poor  hid- 
den soul  a  little ;  and  after  a  long  summer  vacation  which 
she  passed  in  the  country,  she  came  back  to  school  with 
pleasure  and  with  a  new  face,  and  though  always  backward 
in  comparison  with  children  who  had  had  motherly  inter- 
course, and  been  taught  early  to  use  their  faculties,  she 
went  steadily  on.  There  was  no  competition  to  discourage 
her,  and  she  learned  to  read  immediately  when  she  once 
wished  to.  None  but  mothers  can  do  justice  to  little  chil- 
dren. She  sometimes  made  me  think  of  your  remark  that 
every  child  needs  four  mothers.  But  I  think  the  two  heav- 
en-appointed parents  will  do,  if  they  see  their  duties  and 
fulfil  them. 

To  disarm  your  opposition  about  sending  such  little  tots  to 
school,  I  assure  you  that  many  of  my  mothers  tell  me  that 
the  transition  from  nursery  life  to  my  little  community  has 
cured  children  of  fretting  and  other  faults,  and  that  they, 
repeat  the  occupations  of  the  school-room  in  their  home 
plays.  —  Read  "  Christian  Nurture,"  by  Dr.  Bushnell. 


144  MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 


LETTER  IV. 

DEAR  A.,  —  When  I  have  a  collection  of  children  around 
me  to  whom  I  am  to  teach  things  and  morals,  I  always  be- 
gin by  making  a  simple  statement  of  the  footing  on  which  I 
wish  we  shall  live  together.  Prevention  is  better  than  cure, 
and  much  is  gained  with  children,  as  with  grown  men,  by 
expecting  from  them  the  best  and  noblest  action. 

In  a  school  or  in  a  family,  I  do  not  like  any  government 
but  self-government,  yet  I  wish  my  scholars  to  know  that  I 
often  help  the  growth  of  the  latter  by  interposing  my  author- 
ity when  that  of  the  inner  law  fails.  When  I  commenced 
my  present  school,  I  had  such  a  conversation  with  the  chil- 
dren on  the  first  day  they  were  assembled,  before  there  had 
been  time  for  any  overt  acts  upon  a  lower  principle  than  the 
one  I  wished  to  inculcate. 

My  school  consists  of  children  belonging  to  one  class  in  a 
certain  sense  of  the  word,  that  is,  to  families  of  the  highest 
general  cultivation  amongst  us,  and  what  is  still  more  im- 
portant, to  families  in  which  there  is  a  general  if  not  well 
digested  belief  in  the  divinity  of  human  nature.  Yet  there 
is  a  great  diversity  in  the  influences  upon  them.  Even 
among  people  of  the  most  liberal  views  there  still  lurks  a 
sediment  of  the  feeling  that  there  is  a  principle  of  evil  a^ 
well  as  of  good  in  the  human  soul,  and  so  people  expect  their 
children  to  be  naughty  on  that  ground.  Now  I  do  not  be- 
lieve in  this.  I  think  all  evil  is  imperfection.  It  is  some- 
times very  bad  imperfection,  I  allow,  and  I  am  sometimes 
tempted  to  say  poetically,  though  never  literally,  that  it 
looks  like  innate  depravity.  But  I  do  really  believe  in  in- 
dividual perfectibility,  and  that  "  circumstance,  that  unspirit- 
ual  god  and  miscreator,"  is  our  great  enemy.  Circumstance 
is  a  very  important  personage  in  my  calendar,  and  a  perfect 
Proteus  in  the  shapes  he  takes,  for  he  covers  not  only  the 
common  surroundings  we  call  circumstances,  but  organiza- 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        145 

tion  itself.  Perfection  must  be  in  the  reach  of  every  one  by 
God's  original  design,  and  it  is  only  man's  marring  that  hin- 
ders its  progress,  and  that  temporarily.  I  hope  you  have  the 
same  instinct  about  this  that  I  have.  I  can  remember,  even 
when  I  was  not  ten  years  old,  hearing  some  one  very  severely 
criticised,  who  I  happened  to  know  had  had  the  worst  of  moral 
educations,  and  I  resented  the  criticism,  not  because  the  sub- 
ject of  it  was  any  friend  of  mine,  for  it  was  a  person  in 
whom  I  had  no  particular  interest,  but  I  remember  the  feel- 
ing was  a  sort  of  vindication  of  God's  goodness,  an  assurance 
that  he  would  not  judge  that  unfortunate  person  harshly  or 
unforgivingly,  but  that  the  misfortunes  she  had  brought  upon 
herself,  would  teach  her  what  her  life  at  home  had  failed  to 
teach  her.  How  often  I  have  thought  of  that  poor  woman 
in  my  life  ! 

To  go  back  to  my  school.  I  knew  many  of  the  families, 
some  intimately  enough  to  know  the  very  peculiarities  of 
the  children,  others  only  enough  to  be  able  to  anticipate  the 
little  characters ;  others  were  perfect  strangers,  whom  I  was 
yet  to  study.  Many  of  them  had  never  been  to  school  be- 
fore, and  I  knew  enough  of  the  usual  method  of  governing 
schools  to  be  aware  that  the  associations  of  those  who  had 
been  in  such  scenes,  were  likely  to  be  those  of  contention  for 
power,  the  memory  of  penalties,  and  a  division  of  interests 
between  teachers  and  taught.  Even  at  home  some  of  these 
children  had  been  governed  by  fixed  rules,  instead  of  the 
instincts  of  love,  and  had  never  been  addressed  as  if  they 
had  any  sense  of  right  and  wrong ;  others  had  been  weakly 
indulged,  others  mostly  if  not  wholly  neglected,  and  left  to 
the  care  of  servants.  One  little  boy  and  girl,  children  of 
•wealthy  parents,  scarcely  saw  their  father  from  one  month's 
end  to  another,  for  he  never  rose  till  they  went  to  school ; 
they  dined  at  two  and  he  at  five,  and  before  his  dinner  was 
done,  to  which  he  never  returned  till  the  last  moment,  these 
little  ones  were  put  to  bed.  Even  the  elder  children  who 
also  went  to  school,  saw  him  only  at  dinner,  for  his  evenings 
7 


146        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

were  usually  spent  in  company,  or  at  some  club.  I  hope 
this  is  an  extreme  case.  I  should  say  that  the  mother  in  this 
family  was  an  amiable  woman,  but  not  sufficiently  like  the 
"  near  Providence  "  to  counteract  the  effects  of  such  fatherly 
neglect. 

There  was  one  child,  of  truly  religious  and  conscientious 
parents,  whose  moral  influence  was  null,  except  indirectly, 
because  they  really  believed  that  the  human  heart  was  orig- 
inally depraved,  and  waited  to  be  saved  by  special  grace 
from  God,  irrespective  of  the  conscience  ;  and  this  girl,  who 
was  the  oldest  of  my  scholars,  had  less  principle  to  work 
upon  than  any  one,  and  when  I  first  spoke  of  the  cultivation 
of  the  mind  as  a  religious  duty,  she  told  me  very  ingenuously 
that  it  was  the  first  time  she  had  ever  heard  such  a  thought, 
although  she  was  considered  quite  remarkable  at  home  for 
her  religious  sensibility,  and  really  prayed  aloud  sometimes 
like  a  little  seraph,  in  imitation  of  her  truly  devout  parents ; 
but  she  was  very  untruthful. 

A  few  of  the  children  had  been  made  to  feel  that  every 
human  being  has  a  conscience,  which,  when  enlightened,  will 
guide  him  right.  In  these  latter  the  work  of  growth  had 
already  begun,  and  to  them  I  looked  for  my  allies  in  the 
work  I  was  about  to  undertake.  I  knew  that  the  best  I 
could  do  would  only  come  up  to  the  standard  that  had  ever 
been  held  up  before  them. 

I  seated  them  all  around  me  and  began  by  telling  them 
how  much  I  loved  to  keep  school  for  little  children,  when 
they  were  good.  But  children  were  not  always  good,  and  I 
was  glad  to  help  them  cure  their  little  faults  before  they 
grew  to  be  great  ones,  which  was  the  thing  most  to  be 
feared  in  the  world.  I  hoped  the  good  children  here  would 
help  me  make  the  others  better,  if  there  were  any  naughty 
ones.  "We  must  all  be  patient  with  naughty  people,  just  as 
God  was.  It  took  naughty  people  a  long  time  to  grow  better 
again.  If  each  child  would  think  about  himself  a  moment, 
he  would  remember  that  he  did  not  always  do  perfectly 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        147 

right ;  but  God  had  given  everybody  a  conscience  which 
was  sometimes  called  "  the  voice  of  God  within  us,"  so  every 
one  could  improve  who  would  listen  to  that  voice. 

There  was  a  right  thing  to  be  done  in  every  place.  In 
school  it  would  be  necessary  for  all  to  keep  good  order,  else 
it  would  be  impossible  to  study,  where  there  were  so  many 
persons ;  it  was  just  as  necessary  too  that  all  should  be  polite 
and  kind  to  each  other,  else  there  could  be  no  happiness. 
One  unkind  person  could  make  all  the  rest  uncomfort- 
able. 

After  dwelling  upon  these  points  till  all  seemed  to  recog- 
nize their  importance,  I  told  them  that  some  people  kept 
order  in  schools  by  rigid  rules  and  penalties ;  for  instance, 
there  would  be  a  rule  that  every  scholar  who  spoke  aloud 
should  have  a  mark  for  bad  conduct,  every  one  that  kept 
order,  a  mark  for  good  conduct ;  another  rule  would  be,  that 
every  lesson  learned  well  should  have  a  mark  of  approbation, 
every  lesson  learned  ill,  a  mark  of  disapprobation.  The 
penalties  for  transgressing  rules  were  floggings,  bad  reports 
written  for  parents  to  see,  keeping  lag  after  school,  &c.  &c. ; 
the  recompense  for  good  marks,  either  a  good  report,  or  a 
present,  —  the  handsomest  prize  being  given  to  the  one  who 
learned  lessons  best. 

But  I  did  not  wish  to  keep  school  thus.  I  had  no  respect 
for  people  who  did  right  only  because  they  feared  punish- 
ment or  hoped  for  a  reward.  Such  motives  made  people 
selfish.  I  had  known  of  children  who  would  deny  having  done 
something  they  had  really  done,  and  try  to  make  a  teacher 
suppose  some  one  else  did  it ;  and  also  of  other  children  who 
were  sorry  when  some  one  else  got  the  present.  All  these 
things  made  people  selfish,  and  tempted  them  to  be  false. 
"We  should  do  right  because  it  was  right,  whether  it  were  to 
bring  us  pleasure  or  pain.  It  was  the  duty  of  all  to  improve 
their  faculties,  because  God  had  given  them  to  us  for  that 
purpose,  and  had  put  us  into  a  beautiful  world,  and  given  us 
parents  and  teachers  to  help  us  prepare  for  a  long  existence 


148  MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

of  which  this  life  is  but  a  small  part,  —  a  kind  of  school  in 
which  we  are  educated  for  another  world. 

I  wished  to  have  but  one  rule  in  my  school,  and  that  was 
the  Golden  Rule :  "  do  unto  others  as  you  wish  others  to  do 
unto  you." 

The  duty  in  school  was  to  study  well  and  to  keep  order, 
that  others  might  have  a  chance  to  study.  It  would  be 
necessary  for  them  all  to  respect  my  arrangements,  and 
obey  my  wishes  for  the  sake  of  this  order,  but  they  need  not 
think  of  prizes  or  marks,  for  I  should  give  none. 

I  wished  them  to  govern  themselves.  This  would  make 
it  unnecessary  for  me  to  watch  them  all  the  time.  I  should 
soon  learn  who  was  worthy  of  being  trusted. 

Did  they  not  like  to  be  trusted  ? 

They  responded  warmly  to  this. 

Did  they  not  like  to  do  as  they  pleased  ? 

There  was,  of  course,  but  one  answer  to  this  question. 

I  told  them  none  could  be  allowed  to  do  that  in  school  ex- 
cept those  who  pleased  to  do  right,  because  it  was  my  duty 
to  prevent  them  from  disturbing  each  other,  or  from  wasting 
their  own  time.  But  I  hoped  never  to  be  obliged  to  punish 
any  one  for  doing  wrong.  I  should  make  no  rules  at  present, 
and  if  I  found  all  were  polite,  obliging,  and  industrious,  I 
should  never  need  to  make  any ;  but  if  there  were  any  in 
school  who  did  not  obey  conscience,  and  think  about  other 
people's  convenience,  I  should  be  obliged  to  make  rules  for 
such.  I  should  put  the  names  of  such  scholars  on  a  paper, 
and  those  children  must  live  by  my  rules,  because  they  had 
none  of  their  own. 

I  considered  proper  manners  in  school  to  be  quietness,  no 
unnecessary  speaking  or  moving  about  in  study  time,  polite- 
ness to  every  one,  ready  obedience  to  my  wishes  and  arrange- 
ments, and  industrious  habits  of  study. 

I  should  now  leave  each  one  to  make  rules  for  himself  in 
his  own  mind ;  they  might  write  them  down  if  they  pleased. 
I  should  like  to  see  what  each  one  would  think  it  ri°rht  to  do 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.  149 

in  school.  They  might  imagine  themselves  keeping  school, 
and  tell  how  they  should  govern  it,  and  what  they  thought 
the  duties  of  scholars. 

Some  of  them  did  this.  Their  regulations  were  very 
strict,  their  requisitions  very  great.  Those  who  were  then 
morally  ready  to  apprehend  my  meaning,  have  never  swerved 
since  from  the  law  laid  down  at  that  time. 

But  it  was  not  long  before  several  names  were  upon  my 
list.  For  these  I  made  specific  rules,  taking  especial  pains 
to  say  that  they  were  not  to  apply  to  such  or  such  individuals. 

If  E or  L or  S ,  for  instance,  should  speak  alou.d 

on  a  pressing  occasion,  I  should  not  subject  Ihem  to  the  pen- 
alty, because  I  knew  their  principles  were  good ;  that  they 
thought  of  the  convenience  of  others,  were  studious,  &c.,  &c. 
I  should  excuse  a  particular  instance  of  apparent  disorder  in 
them  until  I  had  reason  to  think  they  were  growing  care- 
less or  thoughtless. 

I  made  the  same  remark  in  regard  to  an  occasional  want 
of  success  in  a  lesson.  I  might  perhaps  have  erred  in  judg- 
ment by  giving  too  long  a  lesson.  I  might  find  upon  experi- 
ment that  the  mind  was  not  prepared  for  a  particular  thing. 
I  should  be  inclined  to  think  an  industrious  and  conscientious 
scholar  did  not  feel  well,  rather  than  to  suppose  any  want  of 
faithfulness.  People  must  always  be  judged  according  to 
their  characters. 

I  assure  you  it  was  a  great  punishment  to  have  one's  name 
upon  my  list.  These  children  saw  the  joys  of  liberty,  and 
that  they  could  be  secured  only  by  doing  right.  I  never  saw 
any  system  of  rewards  or  punishments  have  such  a  stimulat- 
ing moral  or  intellectual  effect. 

Some  of  my  scholars  were  too  young  even  to  be  bound 
in  all  cases  by  this  law  of  the  general  convenience,  and  these 
I  spoke  of  as  children  whose  habits  were  to  be  formed  gradu- 
ally, and  of  whom  this  comprehension  of  the  convenience  of 
others  could  not  always  be  expected.  I  called  upon  the  rest 
to  help  me  keep  them  as  quiet  as  would  be  consistent  with 


150        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

their  good,  and  took  it  for  granted  that  none  would  trouble 
me  by  playing  or  interfering  with  them.  There  must,  of 
course,  be  exceptions  to  all  rules. 

There  were  many  occasions  of  recurring  to  this  conversa- 
tion, and  of  repeating  its  principles.  When  any  overt  acts 
of  wrong-doing  occurred,  when  new  scholars  came,  I  called 
them  around  me  to  talk  about  the  principles  on  which  we 
must  live  and  act.  These  conversations  were  always  inter- 
esting to  the  children,  and  kept  up  the  government  of  the 
school.  When  I  make  rules  and  penalties  for  my  delinquents, 
I  make  the  rules  as  simple  as  possible,  and  the  penalties  as 
nearly  like  the  natural  consequences  of  wrong-doing  as  is 
practicable.  I  never  lose  an  opportunity  of  inculcating  obe- 
dience to  the  inward  law  as  the  only  sure  guide  of  conduct, 
and  if  one's  eye  is  fixed  upon  this  point,  a  thousand  occasions 
will  offer  themselves.  How  can  any  one  who  does  not  be- 
lieve this  inward  law  to  be  the  only  sure  guide  of  conduct 
govern  children  morally  ?  I  have  a  friend,  quite  a  distin- 
guished teacher,  who  believes  in  original  depravity,  and  that, 
conscience  is  not  an  unerring  guide,  and  therefore  that  re- 
ligious principle  cannot  be  made  to  grow  out  of  a  child's  con- 
sciousness, but  that  it  is  an  arbitrary  gift  of  God  ;  supervened 
upon  the  human  mind  without  reference  to  conscience.  He 
once  asked  me  if  there  were  any  religious  exercises  in  my 
school ;  if  I  ever  presented  religious  motives,  and  what  they 
were.  I  told  him  I  presented  no  other,  that  I  made  all  duty 
a  matter  of  conscience,  and  that  I  never  saw  a  child  who  did 
not  understand  that  motive.  He  said  he  had  no  doubt  it  was 
the  noblest  way  of  treating  the  child,  and  brought  out  the 
highest  morality,  but  it  was  not  religious  education  in  his 
opinion !  What  an  admission !  the  noblest  way,  bringing 
out  the  highest  morality,  and  yet  not  religious  education ! 
His  school  is  the  constant  scene  of  religious  revivals,  and  by 
his  own  admission  the  children  are  told  not  to  keep  company 
with  the  children  of  liberal  Christians,  or  of  those  who  go 
to  the  theatre  !  I  do  not  believe  in  a  premature  Christianity, 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        151 

so  taught  as  to  be  able  to  give  an  account  of  itself  in  early 
youth. 

I  once  visited  an  Infant  Charity  School,  composed  entirely 
of  children  who  were  not  likely  to  have  any  kind  of  instruc- 
tion at  home,  so  that  whatever  was  taught  in  the  school  would 
be  likely  to  make  quite  an  impression.  .  After  a  pleasant  lit- 
tle exercise  in  marching  and  singing,  they  were  seated  for  a 
religious  lesson.  What  do  you  think  of  the  following  as  a 
basis  of  Christian  charity?  —  average  age  of  the  children, 
eiglit. 

What  are  the  principles  of  Christianity  ? 

To  love  one's  neighbor  and  obey  God,  to  believe  in  the 
Bible  and  the  salvation  by  Christ 

Who  are  the  heathen  ? 

They  are  people  who  never  heard  of  the  Christian  religion, 
and  who  cannot  have  salvation  by  Christ 

Name  the  heathen  nations  ? 

Indians,  Hindoos,  the  people  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  the 
islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

What  is  the  difference  between  Christians  and  heathen  ? 

Christians  serve  God,  walk  humbly,  and  love  their  neigh- 
bors like  themselves.  Heathens  lie,  steal,  commit  murder, 
and  are  full  of  revenge. 

Are  all  the  people  in  Christendom  true  Christians  ? 

No,  only  those  who  believe  that  God  the  Father  took  the 
form  of  man  and  came  down  to  the  earth,  preached,  suffered, 
and  was  crucified  on  the  Cross. 

What  becomes  of  all  who  are  not  true  Christians,  and  of 
all  the  heathen  ? 

They  go  into  everlasting  fire. 

This  was  a  rote-lesson  which  the  children  rattled  off  glibly. 
Modifications  of  such  lessons  are  given  in  schools  where 
revivals  are  considered  religious  proceedings. 

Is  it  not  fearful  to  think  that  there  is  a  child  in  Christen- 


152          MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

dom  who  is  not  instructed  in  the  great  fundamental  truth  that 
God  has  planted  in  every  human  soul  a  principle  of  conscience 
by  which  it  can  distinguish  evil  from  good,  and  which,  if 
obeyed,  will  save  it,  by  some  natural  process  alike  applicable 
to  Christian  or  heathen  ?  The  first  principle  to  which  a 
child  should  be  pointed  is  the  principle  of  law  in  the  human 
breast.  God  has  so  made  the  human  soul  that  this  can  be 
taught  to  young  children  if  one  only  knows  how  to  do  it. 
If  truly  taught,  we  may  safely  trust  that  they  can  never  so 
judge  the  much-abused  heathen. 

One  day  when  I  was  walking  in  the  mall  with  my  little 
scholars,  at  recess,  some  of  the  children  cried  out  to  the 
others  that  they  must  not  run  upon  the  banks,  or  the  con- 
stable would  fine  them.  The  warning  was  not  received  in  a 
good  spirit,  and  I  perceived  that  the  constable  was  not  in 
good  repute  among  children.  I  well  remembered  the  "  tidy- 
man,"  as  our  servant  called  him,  of  my  childish  days,  and  the 
apprehensions  I  used  to  entertain  lest  he  should  hook  me  up 
with  his  long  pole  into  the  gallery  of  the  church,  if  I  made 
any  noise  during  service  time,  and  I  saw  that  these  children 
thought  it  quite  desirable  to  circumvent  the  constable,  and 
get  as  many  runs  upon  the  banks  as  could  be  snatched  dur- 
ing his  absence. 

This  was  an  opportunity  not  to  be  lost,  and  when  we  re- 
turned to  the  school-room,  I  asked  why  they  supposed  the 
constable  was  ordered  to  let  no  one  run  upon  the  banks. 

They  were  curious  to  hear  a  reason.  It  had  not  occurred 
to  them,  apparently,  that  there  was  any  other  reason  than  a 
desire  to  trouble  children.  I  told  them  the  history  of  the 
Boston  Common  —  how  much  pains  had  been  taken  ever 
since  the  days  of  the  Pilgrims  (whom  they  know),  to  keep 
it  inviolate,  in  order  that  all  the  citizens  might  enjoy  its 
beauties  and  its  advantages ;  how  much  money  had  been  ex- 
pended upon  it ;  how  it  had  been  secured  as  a  perpetual  pos- 
session to  all  the  citizens,  and  how  every  attempt  to  build  even 
very  near  it,  had  been  resisted  for  fear  of  cutting  off  the  fine 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        153 

prospect ;  that  even  the  cows  that  used  to  pasture  there,  had 
been  turned  away  that  the  children  of  the  city  might  play 
there  undisturbed.  I  then  told  them  why  by-laws  were 
made  to  preserve  the  beauty  of  the  banks,  particularly  just 
after  they  were  repaired  and  newly  laid  down  with  turf. 

When  they  acknowledged  that  all  this  was  reasonable,  I 
told  them  that  laws  were  made  for  the  good  of  society,  and 
that  every  good  citizen  would  respect  such  laws.  Whoever 
understood  what  law  meant,  that  is,  whoever  knew  the  law 
within  themselves,  would  respect  the  laws  of  a  country  or  a 
city  that  were  made  for  the  good  of  alL  I  thought  my  les- 
son was  successful. 

One  who  has  not  been  a  great  deal  alone  with  the  un- 
sophisticated natures  of  children  has  little  idea  how  early  the 
highest  principles  of  action  can  be  instilled  into  them.  It 
does  not  need  many  words,  as  I  well  remember  from  the  few 
indelibly  written  upon  my  mind  by  a  religious  mother,  who 
never  comforted  my  timidity,  which  was  excessive,  by  any- 
thing but  principles  which  my  soul  responded  to :  "  Do  right 
always,  and  then  you  need  not  be  afraid  of  anything  ; "  and, 
"  Your  Heavenly  Father  will  take  care  of  you,  and  will  let 
nothing  happen  to  you  but  what  is  for  your  good,"  comprised 
the  religious  inculcations  of  my  childhood,  varied  according 
to  circumstances.  And  when  I  first  fully  realized  that  Christ, 
who  was  held  up  as  a  model,  was  "  tempted  like  as  we  are," 
my  religious  education  was  complete,  except  what  practice 
could  give  me.  The  imagination  is  as  boundless  in  the 
images  it  evokes  as  imagery  itself,  and  no  specific  cure  for 
fears  of  darkness  and  unmeasured  danger  can  ever  meet  the 
difficulty.  If  a  timid  child  cannot  be  taught  that  he  is  under 
the  eye  of  a  tender  and  watchful  Providence,  his  childhood 
may  be  one  long  terror,  as  I  have  known  to  be  the  case.  If 
to  this  is  to  be  added  everlasting  woe  for  wrong-doing,  ther« 
is  no  wonder  that  God, must  come  down  from  heaven  to  set 
things  right,  and  invent  a  scheme  which  will  virtually  anni- 
hilate his  own  original  provisions 
7* 


154         MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

Many  of  my  children  have  been  religiously  educated  in 
the  right  way,  have  been  made  to  think  of  God  as  their 
creator,  benefactor,  and  preserver,  and  the  author  of  all  the 
beauties  of  nature  that  they  see,  and  the  powers  they  pos- 
sess. When  I  say  "  we  must  return  good  for  evil  as  Christ 
did,  who  was  the  most  perfect  being  that  ever  lived,"  they 
understand  me  as  speaking  of  a  principle  which  they  can 
apply  directly  to  themselves  ;  for  I  often  add,  "  Christ  said 
things  when- he  was  very  young  that  showed  he  understood 
all  about  right  and  wrong,  and  in  those  years  of  his  life 
which  we  are  not  told  anything  about  in  the  Bible,  he  must 
always  have  obeyed  his  conscience,  or  he  never  could  have 
preached  to  others  as  he  did  afterwards," —  for  the  only  vital 
use  of  Christ's  life  to  others  is  to  make  his  spirit  of  action 
our  own,  and  to  believe  that  we  can  do  likewise. 

I  have  been  led  to  think  much  of  this  in  relation  to  chil- 
dren, by  hearing  my  orthodox  friend  talk ;  for  he  is  a  very 
conscientious  man,  and  his  admission  that  to  address  the 
child's  conscience  was  the  noblest  way  of  treating  it,  though 
not  the  canonical  one,  let  in  a  world  of  light  upon  me  touch- 
ing the  unchristian  condition  of  Christendom.  How  can 
truth  prevail  where  the  noblest  appeal  is  not  considered  the 
religious  appeal  ?  Truly  yours, 

M. 

LETTER  V. 

MY  DEAR  ANNA,  —  If  you  wish  to  know  the  practical 
difficulties  that  arise  out  of  my  desire  to  inculcate  self-gov- 
ernment, and  to  keep  my  own  out  of  sight  as  much  as  possi- 
ble, I  will  tell  you  candidly  that  liberty  is  sometimes  abused 
in  my  school ;  but  I  have  never  repented  of  my  principles, 
and  have  learned  not  to  be  frightened  by  apparent  failures, 
for  I  have  never  known  an  instance,  where  I  have  had  an 
opportunity  to  observe  the  result,  in  which  my  plan  has  not 
answered  somewhat  to  my  hopes. 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         155 

And  now  I  must  tell  you  what  are  my  hopes.  They  are 
not  to  make  men  and  women  of  children,  or  to  produce  per- 
fect consistency  of  action  in  youth.  They  are  to  put  the 
mind  in  the  right  attitude  so  that  the  education  of  life  will 
bring  forth  the  character  harmoniously  ;  and  to  make  truth, 
sincerity,  kindly  affections,  and  a  conscientious  use  of  the 
powers  of  the  mind  the  prevailing  characteristics.  Some- 
times I  wait  long  for  the  dawning  of  this  hope,  but  I  cannot 
despair  of  it  as  long  as  I  believe  in  the  soul.  I  do  not  mean 
that  I  think  the  soul  self-existent,  independent  of  God,  but 
I  believe  it  so  created  that  it  can  right  itself  at  last  with  due 
effort  to  realize  His  presence  in  vital  laws.  To  induce  it 
to  make  this  effort  is  what  education  is  designed  to  effect,  is 
it  not  ?  I  have  had  some  children  under  my  care  who  have 
come  to  me  deceitful,  perverse,  without  delicacy  of  sensibil- 
ity, self-conceited,  puffed  up  with  lofty  notions  of  their  own 
importance  and  that  of  all  who  belonged  to  them ;  and  theso 
characteristics  so  prominent  and  offensive  that  our  inter- 
course was  for  a  long  time  nothing  but  war.  I  had  no  op- 
portunity to  express  approbation  or  sympathy,  for  the  object 
with  them  was  to  defy  or  circumvent  me,  and  to  accomplish 
their  lessons  by  trickery  instead  of  honest  application.  These 
faults  were  constantly  recurring,  and  I  was  often  strongly 
tempted  to  rid  myself  of  the  difficulty  by  declining  to  keep 
such  scholars  in  school  with  others.  If  my  operations  had 
necessarily  been  confined  to  one  apartment,  I  should  have 
been  obliged  to  do  this  sometimes,  but  in  my  father's  house 
I  had  many  facilities,  and  I  felt  it  my  duty,  if  possible,  to  do 
what  I  could  for  such  unfortunate  children,  as  long  as  I  was 
sure  that  my  influence,  and  not  theirs,  prevailed  in  the  school. 
I  saw  that  vices  were  made  apparent,  of  whose  existence  I 
could  have  wished  innocent  children  never  to  know,  but  I 
knew  it  was  impossible  to  sequester  them  wholly  from  such 
contact,  and  perhaps  it  had  better  be  under  supervision  and 
thus  possibly  turned  to  account.  Sometimes  the  beauty  of 
virtue  is  better  seen  by  being  contrasted  with  its  opposite. 


156        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

Had  not  I  a  right  to  think  the  evil  might  be  overruled  for 
good,  since  God  permits  evil  (the  negative  of  good)  in  his 
world  ?  To  do  this,  however,  requires  the  greatest  vigilance, 
and  occasionally  I  have  been  obliged  to  suspend  very  much 
the  intellectual  training  of  a  school,  to  gain  time  to  investi- 
gate its  moral  state,  and  the  degree  of  evil  influence  that 
might  tend  to  counteract  mine,  for  these  interlopers  among 
the  innocents  sometimes  had  bright  parts,  and  an  activity 
that  never  tired.  The  faults  of  such  children  often  brought 
them  into  direct  collision  with  their  companions  whose  peace 
they  invaded,  and  thus  far  I  was  aided  by  my  scholars  in 
my  discipline,  though  I  have  had  cases  where  the  outward 
speciousness  was  only  such  as  one  would  imagine  to  belong 
to  a  matured  person.  I  was  obliged  to  take  the  greatest 
pains,  however,  in  order  not  to  destroy  the  very  germ  of 
delicacy  (which  yet  bore  no  fruits),  that  my  admonitions 
should  be  in  private,  whenever  no  overt  acts  made  it  neces- 
sary for  me  to  speak  before  others.  In  private  I  need  not 
speak  in  measured  terms. 

It  is  frightful  to  feel  one's  self  so  directly  in  contact  with 
the  wrong-doing  of  a  fellow-being,  but  at  such  times  I  have 
laid  open  the  heart  as  well  as  I  was  able,  and  showed  the 
characteristics  in  all  their  hideousness,  taking  it  for  granted 
that  the  moral  judgment  was  still  alive. 

A  great  man  once  said  to  me  that  we  had  no  second  con- 
sciousness by  which  we  could  judge  ourselves ;  and  Burns, 
you  know,  exclaims,  — 

"  0  wad  some  power  the  giftie  gie  us 
To  see  oursels  as  ithers  see  us !  " 

but  I  agree  neither  with  the  philosopher  nor  the  poet,  for 
conscience  is  that  second  consciousness,  which  can  be  evoked 
if  only  the  right  conjurer  speaks.  I  believe  in  no  other 
safeguard  than  that  "  voice  of  God  within  us "  to  which  I 
firmly  believe  no  human  being  is  always  deaf.  But,  dear 
A — ,  what  is  so  revolting  as  a  bad  child?'  It  seems  an 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        157 

anomaly  in  nature.  I  depict  no  imaginary  characters  to  you. 
I  do  not  think  I  could  imagine  a  bad  child.  It  must  be  seen 
and  known  to  be  believed  in.  I  am  always  inclined  to  blame 
the  environment  of  such  a  child,  but  repeated  instances  that 
I  have  known  convince  me  that  souls  differ  in  quality,  and 
that  it  is  unreasonable  to  expect  the  loveliest  type  of  virtue 
in  all.  I  believe  in  the  remedial  power  of  education,  not 
that  it  can  change  the  quality  of  the  soul,  but  the  character 
of  the  individual.  A  bold,  free  spirit  will  not  by  education 
be  made  delicate,  but  itsjboldness  may  be  employed  on  wor- 
thy objects,  and  so  of  other  traits.  Truth  too  can  be  shown 
to  be  beautiful  to  some,  but  to  others  to  be  only  manly,  or 
respectable. 

I  have  known  children,  who  apparently  had  very  little 
sensibility,  to  be  touched  by  the  fact  of  never  being  unneces- 
sarily exposed  to  others.  This  care  awakened  in  them  a 
perception  of  delicacy.  In  one  instance,  I  learned  subse- 
quently that  reproof  received  thus  in  private  made  a  great 
impression,  while  that  administered  at  the  moment  of  overt 
acts  of  wrong-doing  in  the  presence  of  the  school  made  very 
little,  or  only  provoked  defiance.  I  have  sometimes  had  tes- 
timonies of  affection  from  such  naughty  children,  and  have 
feared  they  only  proved  a  want  of  sensibility,  but  this  in- 
stance showed  me  that  my  care  and  painstaking  were  ap- 
preciated where  I  least  thought  of  it.  I  have  often  realized 
that  I  kept  bad  manifestations  in  check,  though  the  frequent 
outbreaks  of  such  traits  as  want  of  truth,  stratagem,  attempts 
at  secret  influence  in  the  school,  proofs  of  want  of  deli- 
cacy of  taste  and  of  conscience,  made  me  feel  that  all  I 
could  do  in  the  short  period  while  my  influence  lasted,  was 
to  hold  up  my  testimony  to  good  principles,  and  make  an 
adherence  to  truth,  and  sincere  and  conscientious  action  in 
every  particular  of  life,  —  the  central  points  round  which  all 
other  things  must  revolve.  This  I  never  lose  an  opportunity 
of  doing  by  dwelling  upon  it  to  others  as  well  as  to  the 
guilty.  In  a  small  school  like  mine  —  yet  large  enough  for 


158  MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

variety,  —  I  am  in  such  close  personal  contact  with  all  my 
scholars,  that  the  intimacy  is  nearly  as  great  as  in  a  family  ; 
indeed,  my  personal  intercourse  with  many  of  the  children 
includes  more  hours  and  more  actual  communication  of  mind 
than  takes  place  in  some  families.  It  seems  to  me  very  im- 
portant that  schools  should  be  of  such  a  size  that  this  may 
be  the  case,  if  they  are  to  be  looked  to  as  a  means  of  moral, 
as  well  as  of  intellectual  culture ;  and  if  they  are  not,  I  con- 
ceive them  to  be  nurseries  of  as  much  evil  as  good,  to  say 
the  least.  One  of  the  most  melancholy  things  in  life,  to  me, 
is  seeing  children  get  used  to  what  is  wrong,  submitting  to  it 
as  a  necessity  of  growth ;  and  a  good  school,  where  every- 
thing can  be  talked  over,  is  an  immense  check  upon  this. 
Happily  the  world  cannot  spoil  a  good  soul,  but  there  are 
degrees  in  goodness,  and  in  moral  strength,  and  even  good 
souls  get  tarnished  by  getting  used  to  evil.  I  would  put  off 
the  day  as  long  as  possible.  In  cities,  where  nearly  the 
whole  of  youth  is  passed  in  schools,  more  regard  should  be 
had  to  the  moral  part  of  the  training.  Knowledge  is  dan- 
gerous power  to  the  unconscientious,  and  every  child  should 
and  can  be  made  to  feel  it. 

In  such  deplorable  instances  as  I  have  referred  to,  every 
power  within  me  has  been  taxed  to  the  utmost  to  counteract 
the  evil  tendencies  that  put  forth  their  shoots  in  every  direc- 
tion. Sometimes  a  clearness  of  head  that  made  it  easy  for 
a  child  to  see  the  bearings  of  things,  or  even  an  instinctive 
affectionateness  of  disposition  (not  such  as  would  stand  the 
test  of  opposition,  however),  have  been  the  only  foundations 
of  my  hope.  These  do  not  supply  the  place  of  tenderness 
of  conscience,  but  when  one  is  endeavoring  to  help  forward 
that  growth,  a  clear  Intellect  is  an  important  aid.  A  natural 
obtuseness  in  both  departments  of  the  nature  would  make 
one's  efforts  dark  and  groping  indeed. 

Now  when  I  thus  confess  how  small  has  often  been  the 
reward  for  my  pains,  you  may  smile  at  my  credulity,  but  I 
have  had  some  rewards  in  the  midst  of  discouragements.  I 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        159 

did  feel  in  one  instance,  before  my  scholar  was  taken  from 
me,  —  and  she  was  taken  away  because  her  mother  had  not 
the  moral  courage  to  let  her  suffer  the  natural  consequences 
of  her  wrong-doing,  at  a  crisis  when  I  felt  convinced  it 
might  do  her  radical  good,  —  that  she  had  a  far-off  glimpse 
of  what  character  is  ;  that  the  fine  saying  of  Novalis,  "  char- 
acter is  a  well-educated  will,"  had  dawned  upon  her  mind ; 
for  she  could  sometimes  tell  the  truth  against  her  own  in- 
terest, and  could  bear  the  natural  consequences  of  a  fault, 
occasionally,  without  flying  into  a  passion.  My  "  natural 
consequences  "  were,  privation  from  the  society  of  her  com- 
panions when  she  had  abused  their  faith  and  their  peace,  &c. 
The  child  was  willing  herself  to  sit,  for  a  whole  term,  in 
another  apartment,  and  not  enter  the  school-room  except  for 
a  recitation,  and  to  have  no  part  in  the  plays  of  the  school, 
but  her  mother  was  not  willing. 

This  child  I  could  not  call  noble-minded,  or  generous- 
hearted,  or  a  lover  of  truth,  or  a  self-governing  being,  but  I 
thought  she  had  been  able  to  discern  glimpses  of  these  char- 
acteristics in  others  whom  she  had  wronged,  and  that  had 
given  me  hope.  I  was  thankful  that  I  had  given  her  prin- 
ciples instead  of  penalties,  and  that  I  had  had  faith  enough 
to  wait  for  the  dawning  of  light  within  herself,  without  giving 
her  up  or  producing  a  false  shine  by  addressing  lower  mo- 
tives. She  would  have  despised  me  at  that  moment,  if  I  had 
yielded  to  her  mother's  wish  that  I  should  reinstate  her  in 
school  before  she  had  outlived  her  probation,  which  the  child 
and  I  had  agreed  to  be  the  best  discipline  for  her.  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  she  judged  her  mother  unfavorably  at  that 
time,  for  she  often  came  to  see  me  afterward,  to  ask  me  if  I 
thought  such  and  such  things  were  right  —  things  which  she 
evidently  had  heard  discussed.  She  was  but  eleven,  but  she 
had  a  wonderful  power  of  writing  symbolically.  She  once 
wrote  a  legend  in  imitation  of  those  of  Spenser's  "  Faery 
Queene,"  which  showed  great  intellectual  insight  into  the  dis- 
tinctions between  right  and  wrong,  and  her  sense  of  her  own 


160  MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

faults  was  such  that  if  anything  closely  resembling  them  was 
read  of  in  school,  she  would  put  her  head  under  the  table,  as 
if  she  knew  and  felt  its  application.  The  apparent  attrac- 
tion of  my  society  to  this  child  was  very  significant  to  me. 
She  would  ask  me  the  most  subtle  questions  in  morals,  and 
discourse  as  well  as  I  could,  so  that  I  felt  as  if  her  knowl- 
edge of  right  and  wrong,  gained  through  the  intellect,  was 
rather  a  hinderance  than  a  help  to  her  moral  improvement, 
for  she  was  guilty  every  day  of  malicious  falsehoods.  Her 
envy  of  her  companions  was  sickening  to  the  heart,  for 
it  made  her  active  in  injuring  them.  She  had  vanity 
rather  than  ambition,  for  her  desire  to  excel  did  not  spur 
her  to  any  troublesome  efforts,  it  only  made  her  hate  every 
pursuit  in  which  others  excelled  her.  either  by  natural  gift 
or  by  conscientious,  patient  industry.  At  such  times  she 
would  throw  her  books  across  the  room,  and  stamp  upon  the 
floor  like  a  little  maniac.  Her  unusual  brilliancy  of  imagi- 
nation, unaccompanied  by  any  sedative  qualities,  was  one 
explanation  of  her  character.  Her  wit  and  fancy  gave  her 
great  influence  over  her  companions,  by  whom  she  was  ad- 
mired, or  feared,  or  held  in  great  aversion.  She  had  a  pas- 
sionate attachment  to  one  girl  a  little  older  than  herself,  who 
was  singularly  lovely  and  delicate  in  mind  and  conscience ; 
but  this  passionate  love  alternated  with  fits  of  persecution, 
arising  wholly  out  of  envy,  so  that  I  have  known  her  friend, 
who  was  strangely  fascinated  by  her,  to  be  ill  for  several 
days,  in  consequence  of  painful  scenes  of  its  display.  This 
little  Italian  soul,  born  under  our  cold  skies,  was  almost  a 
fiend  at  eleven  years  old.  Perhaps  the  intellectual  insight 
she  possessed  at  that  early  age,  will  be  useful  to  her  at  any 
period  of  life  when  her  moral  nature  shall  be  awakened.  I 
have  known  instances  in  which  the  latter  slumbered  in  child- 
hood, and  was  roused  into  vivid  action  later  in  life  by  crush- 
ing and  heart-scathing  events,  consequent  upon  its  early 
torpor  ;  and  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  she  should  yet  come 
to  me  across  the  wastes  of  life  for  sympathy  and  help  ;  for 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        161 

she  knew  I  would  fain  have  given  her  my  time  and  strength 
lo  awaken  in  her  a  love  of  excellence.  Such  characters  have 
success  in  the  world  from  very  unscrupulousness,  till  they 
trample  too  proudly  on  the  rights  of  others.  The  charms 
they  do  possess,  whether  personal  or  mental,  lure  them  on  to 
greater  evils  till  they  are  thrown  back  suddenly  into  the 
presence  of  eternal  truth,  and  then  what  misery  must  ensue, 
what  a  reckoning  must  come  !  Do  such  children  of  God 
see  wider  and  deeper  into  the  eternal  truth  for  having  gone 
astray  ?  I  would  fain  think  so  ;  for  in  this  universe  of  com- 
pensations we  can  only  see  that  one  for  the  lost  heaven  of 
innocent  childhood.  Let  those  who  have  not  such  tempta- 
tions mourn  over,  but  not  despise  the  erring  ! 

I  would  aid  many  children  to  conquer  temper  by  a  near 
penalty,  or  give  courage  to  confess  a  fault  by  taking  away 
the  apprehension  of  all  other  punishment  than  the  natural 
one  of  self-reproach,  reflected  from  the  mother-confessor; 
but  sometimes  I  see  children  who  are  afraid  of  nothing  in 
heaven  or  earth,  the  current  of  whose  impertinence  I  can 
indeed  check  for  the  moment ;  the  bold,  defying  glance  of 
whose  eye  I  can  quell,  but  the  coarse  texture  of  whose  mind 
admits  none  of  the  more  delicate  influences.  A  large  gener- 
osity, or  a  great  moral  indignation  or  self-conquest,  may  be 
comprehended  by  such  children,  but  not  a  fine  sympathy, 
or  a  tender  regret. 

I  have  had  pupils  with  as  violent  passions,  as  determined 
will,  as  much  intellectual  insight,  and  a  temperament  that 
made  every  emotion  as  keen  as  the  stroke  of  a  Damascus 
blade,  but  a  sensibility  that  would  respond  to  the  gentlest 
touch,  and  a  conscience  whose  stings  were  like  a  sharp  goad. 
This  keenness  of  nature  made  childhood's  experience  like 
that  of  a  matured  mind  that  had  seen  and  felt  the  conse- 
quences of  evil ;  and  the  gravity  of  age  took  the  place  of 
the  buoyancy  of  childhood.  A  word  in  season  would  bring 
such  a  child  to  repentance  and  amendment  too,  for  I  think 
nothing  of  occasional  backsliding,  where  the  desire  of  im- 


162         MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

provement  prevails.  Such  children  are  subject  to  abuse 
of  a  peculiar  kind,  which  they  seldom  escape.  This  quick 
sensibility  is  too  often  called  forth,  and  a  morbid  sensitive- 
ness is  produced  which  too  often  takes  refuge  in  reckless- 
ness. I  have  known  such  instances  where  the  very  words 
"  doing  right "  became  hateful,  when  uttered  by  lips  that 
had  invaded  too  often  the  sacred  sensibility.  Such  vivid  in- 
tellects are  also  apt  to  be  exercised  too  strongly  for  the  en- 
tertainment of  others,  and  excited  to  undue  activity  by  ques- 
tions of  morals  which  should  not  be  urged  thus  early,  if  we 
wish  for  a  healthful  development.  The  principle  of  self- 
government  is  thus  impaired,  not  strengthened.  The  trial 
of  strength  ought  to  come  later  in  life ;  and  truthfulness 
alone  will  save  one  who  has  such  painful  associations  with 
virtue.  I  am  thinking  now  of  a  particular  child  whose  peace 
of  mind  I  have  seen  thus  disturbed  fearfully,  and  to  whom  I 
felt  it  my  duty  to  secure  as  much  tranquillity  as  the  hours 
he  passed  with  me  could  contain,  even  if  advancement  in 
literature  must  be  sacrificed  to  that  end. 

I  know  nothing  more  painful  than  to  see  a  child  of  deli- 
cate sensibility,  and  lively  moral  sense,  growing  hardened  to 
the  wrong-doing  of  others,  as  it  grows  older,  and  even  learn- 
ing to  expect  it.  I  have  seen  this  in  more  than  one  child, 
and  it  has  made  me  feel  that  there  is  a  limit  beyond  which 
we  should  not  open  the  eyes  of  childhood.  Let  them  live  in 
happy  unconsciousness  of  all  evil  but  that  which  is  in  them- 
selves, as  long  as  possible,  and  let  the  characters  of  others  be 
mysterious  to  them,  rather  than  let  them  acquire  the  habit 
of  looking  out  for  blemishes  by  hearing  low  motives  attrib- 
uted to  others.  I  would  never  trace  out  evil  in  character 
before  children,  except  where  refraining  from  doing  so  might 
risk  the  injury  of  the  moral  sense.  We  all  know,  I  fear, 
what  it  is  to  have  our  idols  cast  down,  and  our  ideal  dese- 
crated and  sad ;  bitter  indeed  is  the  wakening  from  our 
dream  of  man-and-woman-worship  ;  but  we  learn  one  thing 
by  dwelling  upon  the  perfection  of  our  ideal,  and  that  is, 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         163 

of  what  we  are  capable.  No  one  can  ever  realize  that  who 
has  not  worshipped  some  fellow-mortal,  at  some  time.  I 
would  not  forget  the  passionate  loves  of  my  childhood  for 
anything  I  have  yet  realized  in  life. 

Upon  the  whole,  if  I  find  truth  in  a  character,  I  pass 
lightly  over  all  other  deficiencies.  And  even  some  forms 
of  falsehood  do  not  discourage  me.  A  child  that  is  man- 
aged by  strategem  will  almost  inevitably  become  artful ;  but 
a  generous,  confiding  treatment,  in  which  his  honor  is  trust- 
ed, will  probably  bring  him  back  to  candor  and  simplicity. 
I  love  to  teach  children  to  look  upon  and  understand  the 
virtues  of  others,  to  excite  their  enthusiasm  for  fearless 
truth,  self-sacrifice,  and  long-suffering  patience  and  kindness. 
All  the  experience  of  my  life  is  worked  up  into  little  stories. 
When  I  say  "  once  I  knew,  &c,"  I  always  chain  attention. 
I  love  to  tell  of  one  child  I  knew  when  very  young,  who 
would  never  let  another  child  communicate  any  secret,  as 
children  take  such  pleasure  in  doing,  without  saying  in  an- 
swer to  the  question,  "  Will  you  never  tell  ? "  "  Nobody 
but  my  mother."  This  was  her  invariable  answer,  and  her 
sturdiness  through  all  manner  of  ridicule  made  a  great  im- 
pression upon  me.  We  were  inseparable  companions,  and 
I  remember  nothing  that  bound  me  to  her  so  strongly  as 
this  uprightness.  I  adopted  the  same  measure  by  her  ad- 
vice, and  we  doubtless  escaped  much  evil  in  that  way.  She 
went  by  the  name  of  "  Nobody  But"  but  she  had  true  moral 
courage,  and  I  used  to  resent,  in  her  behalf,  this  nick- 
name. My  loyalty  to  her  generally  saved  me  from  even  the 
temptation  of  being  asked.  This  and  other  small  heroes 
and  heroines  are  important  mythological  personages  in  my 
school. 

I  have  one  scholar  who  was  brought  to  me  from  a  very 
large  school  where  no  child  could  receive  individual  atten- 
tion, and  no  subject  of  interest  was  either  studied  or  talked 
about.  Certain  outward  actions  brought  certain  rewards  or 
punishments.  The  principles  of  self-government  and  con- 


164        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

science  were  never  addressed.  His  mind,  of  fine  natural 
powers,  would  have  been  starved  all  that  time  if  he  had  not 
had  intellectual  culture  at  home.  "When  he  came  into  my 
school-room  I  could  see  that  every  association  with  such 
scenes  was  wearisome  and  disgusting.  Before  the  study- 
bell  was  rung,  he  would  pour  into  my  ear  the  whole  history 
of  his  life,  his  excursions  among  the  mountains,  the  stories 
told  him  by  his  travelled  uncles,  his  knowledge  of  animals, 
birds,  flowers,  and  all  in  a  childlike  spirit  of  confidence  in 
my  interest  and  sympathy,  which  he  caught  from  the  other 
children.  But  when  the  school-hour  came,  a  lassitude  per- 
vaded all  his  faculties,  and  even  a  spirit  of  opposition  seem- 
ed to  take  possession  of  him.  It  was  not  the  signal  for  many 
pleasant  things  to  happen,  as  with  the  rest,  but  for  some 
stupid  effort  to  be  made.  The  memory  of  many  thousand 
spelling  lessons,  including  countless  words  to  which  no  idea 
was  attached  in  his  mind,  and  of  dull  readings  of  the  same 
uninteresting  sentences  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
year,  and  the  adding,  subtracting,  and  dividing  of  inexpres- 
sive numbers,  came  thronging  thick  upon  him.  I  learned  the 
facts  from  outside  testimony,  first  suspecting  them  from  their 
effects.  It  needed  only  to  look  at  him  to  see  them  written 
in  his  expressive  face. 

As  soon  as  I  saw  clearly  how  it  was,  I  determined  that 
my  school-room  should  for  a  time  be  as  much  like  the  wild 
woods  as  I  could  make  it,  consistently  with  due  decorum  ; 
that  he  should  enjoy  the  sweets  of  liberty  in  certain  ways, 
while  at  the  same  time  I  would  endeavor  gently  to  substitute 
for  his  previous  associations  with  study,  something  more  liv- 
ing. I  soon  saw  that  he  evidently  thought  he  was  to  do 
pretty  much  as  he  pleased.  I  did  not  always  check  him 
•when  he  walked  to  the  window  without  any  apparent  object 
but  to  enjoy  the  prospect  in  the  street,  though  I  sometimes 
expressed  surprise  that  he  should  do  it  when  I  had  given 
him  a  lesson  to  learn.  He  saw  no  black  marks  expressive 
of  the  youthful  sins  of  looking  up  from  his  book,  or  treading 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         165 

on  the  toes  of  his  neighbors,  though  after  a  while  I  gave  him 
a  little  table  by  himself,  because  he  had  not  self-control 
enough  to  refrain  from  such  interference  with  others.  I  once 
remarked  to  him  that  he  was  like  those  people  whom  society 
put  into  the  State-prison,  because  he  violated  social  duties. 
Only  those  could  enjoy  freedom  who  did  not  interfere  with 
others'  rights  and  comforts.  The  taste  for  liberty  soon  spread 
into  other  things.  He  did  not  like  to  study  anything  that 
required  an  effort,  and  showed  a  great  feeling  of  discourage- 
ment whenever  anything  new  was  required  of  him.  He  al- 
ways said  "  can't,"  and  often  added  in  a  half  whisper,  "  wont.'' 
I  did  not  yield  to  this,  but  insisted  upon  having  my  requisi- 
tions answered,  partly  because  obedience  must  be  the  cardinal 
virtue  in  school,  and  partly  because  I  knew  such  despondency 
would  never  be  conquered  unless  by  a  sense  of  power  to  con- 
quer difficulties.  Much  time  and  labor  it  cost  me  and  him 
to  establish  my  authority  in  this  respect,  and  to  induce  him 
to  begin  to  study  a  hard  lesson.  After  I  had  gained  these 
points,  however,  I  gradually  set  aside  those  things  to  which 
he  had  the  most  aversion,  and  which  had  no  interest  but  one 
borrowed  from  a  sense  of  duty,  and  thought  it  best  to  let  him 
choose  more  for  himself.  I  could  have  done  this  earlier  if 
the  aversion  to  certain  mental  efforts  had  not  been  accompa- 
nied with  wilful  resistance  to  my  wishes,  and  a  want  of  con- 
sideration for  my  duties.  Many  of  the  vile  tricks  of  school- 
boys, both  in  school  and  in  play-hours,  annoyed  me  and  his 
companions. 

At  last  the  reaction  began  to  take  place.  He  became  in- 
terested in  Latin  fables  and  natural  history,  and  when  1 
began  to  administer  less  interesting  things  in  small  doses,  he 
would  bring  his  book  to  me  saying,  "  I  can't  tell  how  to  get 
this  lesson,"  instead  of  "I  shall  never  get  this,  and  I  am  not 
going  to  try."  When  I  found  he  could  adopt  a  suggestion 
from  me  as  to  the  best  way  to  conquer  a  difficulty,  I  could 
send  him  into  another  room  to  pronounce  French  phrases 
aloud,  without  the  interruption  of  other  recitations.  I  had 


166  MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

no  possible  penalties  for  the  recurrence  of  fits  of  idleness, 
and  when  he  interrupted  other?,  I  only  expressed  my  surprise 
and  regret  that  he  should  be  so  childish  and  selfish,  and  occa- 
sionally sent  him  home  because  he  was  utterly  disagreeable. 
These  faults  seemed  to  be  the  result  of  a  morbid  activity 
where  healthful  manifestations  had  been  arbitrarily  checked, 
and  not  an  evil  disposition  ;  for  he  really  loved  little  children, 
and  was  communicating  and  confiding  to  me  before  and  after 

school,  quite  courteous  and  polite  to  me  as  Miss  P ,  but 

wholly  in  opposition  to  the  school-dame.  I  always  took  pains 
to  appeal  to  him  for  his  traveller's  stories  when  they  came  in 
appropriately  to  the  geography  lesson,  or  could  illustrate  in 
any  way  what  was  read.  School  began  gradually  to  afford 
him  the  same  sort  of  pleasure  he  received  from  reading  with 
his  mother,  which  was  always  agreeable,  and  had  stored  his 
miud  with  pleasant  knowledge.  In  morals  as  well  as  in  les- 
sons I  did  the  same  thing.  I  called  upon  him  to  help  me 
take  care  of  the  little  children  when  we  walked,  because  I 
saw  he  could  do  this  with  ease  and  pleasure.  As  soon  as 
any  other  relation  took  the  place  of  the  school  relation,  all 
things  went  on  agreeably.  He  knew  that  I  respected  his 
word,  and  that  his  story  had  due  weight  in  the  scale  when 
I  asked  for  various  testimony  in  regard  to  any  subject  of 
difference. 

My  object  was,  as  you  will  perceive,  to  leave  him  to  feel 
the  natural  consequences  of  doing  wrong,  instead  of  fearing 
any  arbitrary  punishment ;  being  confident  that  the  natural 
sequence  of  things  (that  is,  God's  arrangements)  would  en- 
lighten the  mind  as  no  mere  penalty  or  mere  precept  could 
do.  I  often  feel  that  I  can  see  the  prominent  points  in  a  case 
like  this,  where  a  mother  may  not,  owing  to  her  position. 
Neither  do  mothers  know  the  faults  of  the  school-room.  I 
give  information  of  these,  as  they  tell  me  the  faults  of  the 
nursery.  Children  that  cry  much  in  nurseries,  seldom  cry  at 
all  in  a  school-room,  where  a  pleasing  variety  occupies  the 
time,  and  a  seed-grain  of  self-control  is  planted ;  and  temp- 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.  167 

tations  arise  in  the  school-room,  where  peculiar  efforts  and 
sacrifices  are  called  for,  that  do  not  assail  the  child  at  home. 
The  mother  of  this  boy  could  hardly  be  made  to  believe  that 
in  school-hours  neither  his  intellect  nor  his  conscience  acted, 
because  she  knew  they  did  at  other  times.  It  was  as  if  a 
spell  bound  him  there.  In  his  previous  school-life  there  had 
been  little  but  spelling-lessons,  and  what  is  called  discipline, 
which  consists,  as  far  as  I  can  understand,  (and  I  have  in- 
quired very  particularly  of  those  who  advocate  the  system,) 
of  teaching  as  many  uninteresting  words  as  can  be  crowded 
into  the  memory,  especial  care  being  taken  to  keep  out  of  the 
way  all  ideas.  It  was  in  such  a  conversation  that  the  view 
was  advanced  to  which  I  have  before  alluded,  that  the  less 
interest,  the  more  discipline  of  study.  The  advocate  of  such 
a  plan  thought  everything  that  was  studied  in  youth  was  for- 
gotten, be  it  what  it  might,  therefore  training  (alias  misery 
and  waste  of  time)  was  alone  useful  or  desirable.  He  in- 
stanced his  own  experience  as  a  proof  of  this,  and  where  it 
was  gently  insinuated  that  perhaps  if  those  forgotten  geogra- 
phy lessons,  Latin  lessons,  etc.,  had  had  any  interest  of  their 
own,  such  as  associations  with  interesting  people,  or  the 
amusement  of  a  story,  they  might  have  kept  their  place  in 
his  mind,  he  rejected  the  idea  entirely,  showing,  as  the  Puri- 
tans did  when  they  persecuted  the  Quakers  for  doing  the 
very  thing  they  had  done,  the  evils  of  a  bad  education.  I 
even  ventured  a  little  story,  (that  being  a  lively  kind  of  ar- 
gument I  like  to  use,)  of  a  little  girl  in  my  school,  who,  when 
I  was  endeavoring  to  make  her  hear  the  thunder-music  and 
see  the  rainbow-tinted  spray  of  Niagara  Falls,  exclaimed, 
"  Why,  I  never  knew  before  that  Niagara  Falls  was  made  of 
water  !  "  —  but  I  found  he  could  not  be  taught  "  out  of  the 
mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings." 

I  could  have  told  him,  if  I  had  not  been  discouraged,  of 
a  dear  little  boy  of  my  acquaintance,  seven  years  old,  whom 
his  mother  wished  to  send  to  my  school,  but  his  more  ambi- 
tious father  chose  to  put  him  into  the  Latin  Grammar-School, 


168         MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

(the  very  one  of  which  this  gentleman  was  usher  when  I 
talked  with  him.)  His  mother  begged  me  to  let  him  come 
to  me  privately  to  learn  with  me  the  terrible  Latin  Grammar- 
lesson  of  three  pages,  which  was  to  be  his  first  lesson  in  the 
school,  and  the  language.  So  little  Georgie  and  I  had  a 
secret  session  every  day  for  a  long  time,  in  which  we  got  the 
lesson  together  —  I  would  hear  him  say  it,  and  he  would 
hear  me,  and  I  endeavored  to  extract  some  hidden  meaning 
from  it  for  him,  but  although  I  saved  him  from  many  a  ferul- 
ing, his  hatred  of  school  became  so  intense,  from  the  impos- 
sibility he  found  of  ever  succeeding  without  penalty  and  suf- 
fering, that  he  actually  broke  down  in  spirits  and  health,  and 
was  at  last  taken  away  and  sent  to  a  military  school  to  save 
his  life.  His  mother,  and  I  knew  why  he  failed,  for  he  was 
of  delicate  organization,  easily  frightened,  and  his  sensibility, 
which  was  keen  and  might  have  opened  to  him  the  beauties 
of  the  universe,  was  poisoned  and  embittered  by  unjust 
severity  and  the  fearful  drill  of  that  model  school.  Some  of 
my  boys  who  have  gone  there  after  having  learned  to  use 
their  faculties,  have  succeeded  well,  and  found  no  difficulties  ; 
but  poor  little  George  was  taken  from  what  I  call  a  spelling- 
school,  and  put  into  that  tread-mill,  as  it  proved  to  him.  I 
attribute  a  subsequent  unhappy  career  to  this  mistake  in  his 
education,  but  I  hope  something  will  yet  evoke  his  originally 
lovely  nature.* 

When  one  hears  such  views  as  these,  and  many  others  of 
similar  import  that  I  could  recount,  one  almost  despairs  of 
ever  seeing  a  whole  man.  The  fact  that  there  is  a  grain  of 
truth  in  such  heaps  of  falsehood,  only  increases  the  difficulty, 
because  that  grain  of  truth  prevents  the  recognition  of  that 
mass  of  error.  My  observation  and  experience  are  that,  not 
till  things  are  intelligently  learned  do  they  begin  to  fertilize 
the  mind,  or  are  they  even  sure  to  stay  in  it,  and  scarcely  a 
fine  intellect  will  give  you  any  other  record  of  itself  than  that 
the  date  of  its  improvement  began  at  that  era  when  either 
*  Since  writing  the  above  he  has  died  untimely. 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         169 

self-education  or  the  wise  teacher  showed  it  the  thread  of 
relation  that  runs  through  all  things.  Not  till  at  least  one 
human  fact  has  exemplified  some  spiritual  law,  does  the  in- 
tellect work  intelligently,  or  begin  to  arrange  its  stores.  Do 
we  not  know  some  minds  that  are  mere  encyclopedias,  which 
imagination  has  never  penetrated  with  its  Ithuriel  spear  ?  If 
such  have  moral  sense  in  any  fair  proportion,  they  are  liable 
to  become  hopelessly  miserable  in  this  world  of  shadows  be- 
cause they  can  see  nothing  but  the  shadows. 

I  once  knew  a  mother  who  was  a  beautiful  type  to  me  of 
the  spirit  that  should  actuate  the  guardians  of  the  young. 
She  looked  upon  a  soul  with  such  awe  that  it  was  not  easy 
for  her  to  impose  her  authority  upon  her  children,  for  might 
there  not  be  something  in  their  natures  superior  to  her  own  ? 
The  possibility  of  this  made  her  cautious  in  her  requisitions, 
lest  she  should  nip  some  beautiful  bud  of  promise  in  them. 
I  knew  her  when  they  were  all  young,  and  I  saw  that  it  was 
not  want  of  decision,  but  the  fear  of  doing  harm  that  often 
arrested  her  action.  The  children  were  not  always  serene 
and  happy,  and  sometimes  not  obedient,  for  they  had  strong 
wills,  and  what  is  called  a  great  deal  of  character.  How 
could  there  but  be  strong  individuality  in  such  a  family  ? 
There  was  no  fixed  pattern  by  which  they  were  all  to  be 
measured.  But  they  reverenced  her  as  she  did  them,  for 
she  lived  and  acted  simply  and  genuinely,  and  encompassed 
them  round  about  with  her  tenderness,  practising  daily  those 
virtues  of  devotion  and  self-denial  which  are  demanded  of 
the  mother  of  a  large  family,  and  never  turning  a  deaf  ear 
to  the  wants  of  those  less  favored  with  earthly  happiness 
than  herself.  She  treated  her  children  with  the  respect  one 
human  being  owes  to  another,  irrespective  of  age.  Yet  she 
did  not  commit  the  error  we  sometimes  see  of  reasoning  out 
every  point  of  duty  with  children,  thus  teaching  them  to 
quibble  and  catch  at  words.  She  could  check  that  while  she 
showed  respect  for  their  reasons.  She  had  that  true  humil- 
ity which  makes  its  possessors  question  every  step  of  the 
8 


170         MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

way  in  the  path  of  duty,  while  they  have  a  trusting  faith  that 
there  is  something  within  them  to  answer  to  its  calls. 

She  died  suddenly,  and  then  her  influence,  which  many 
might  have  doubted,  appeared  in  a  wonderful  and  beautiful 
manner.  Circumstances  were  such  that  no  one  was  able  to 
take  the  proper  care  of  the  family  for  a  month  or  two  in  the 
absence  of  the  father.  The  eldest  children,  two  boys,  one 
fourteen,  the  other  eleven,  immediately  took  the  place  of  their 
mother  as  a  matter  of  course,  assumed  the  personal  care 
which  they  had  seen  their  mother  take  every  day,  of  six  little 
brothers  and  sisters,  arranging  everything  as  their  mother 
had  done,  even  in  such  minutiae  as  placing  the  clothes  in  the 
proper  drawers,  and  washing  and  dressing  the  younger  chil- 
dren, which  the  mother  had  never  left  to  servants,  although 
the  home  was  well  supplied  with  them.  In  a  quiet  and  un- 
ostentatious manner  a  large  establishment  had  been  managed 
by  a  superior  mind  so  skilfully,  that  these  boys  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  keeping  everything  in  train  till  their  father's  return. 
They  had  been  inspired  by  their  mother  with  a  sense  of  or- 
der, propriety,  and  responsibility,  for  it  was  a  peculiarity  in 
her  that  she  rather  acted  than  inculcated  principles,  and 
through  their  great  and  tender  affection,  which  had  been  her 
happiness  in  life,  her  characteristics  flowed  naturally  and 
without  a  break  into  their  lives.  Such  a  mother  should 
every  teacher  be,  especially  of  young  children. 

You  need  not  tell  me  that  mothers  and  teachers  must  be 
wise  as  well  as  tender,  courageous  as  well  as  reverential. 
I  know  it  well.  I  can  tell  you  of  a  young  mother  who  risked 
an  essential  injury  to  her  child  (humanly  speaking,  for  we 
cannot  injure  the  essence  of  another)  by  allowing  him  to 
quibble  upon  subjects  of  right  and  wrong,  and  accepting  his 
excuses  when  he  could  found  them  upon  any  inadvertence 
of  hers.  His*  mental  motions  were  more  rapid  than  hers, 
and  a  morbid  tenderness  of  conscience  made  her  hesitate  to 
lay  injunctions  upon  him,  lest  she  might  err  in  judgment. 
A  natural  tendency  to  subtlety  and  stratagem  was  thus  fos- 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        171 

tered  in  him,  and  as  he  had  not  much  imagination,  there  was 
danger  that  he  would  become  actually  deceitful.  He  led  an 
innocent  life  compared  with  many  boys  of  his  age,  for  he  was 
kept  very  much  out  of  harm's  way,  but  I  soon  perceived  the 
pleasure  he  experienced  from  a  successful  trick  of  fun,  and 
that  his  great  command  over  his  nerves  tempted  him  to  play 
many  such,  which  he  could  do  with  a  grave  face.  I  never 
"saw  one  that  was  not  in  itself  innocent  fun,  and  if  they  had 
been  practised  as  some  children  practise  them,  who  will  be- 
tray their  agency  the  next  moment  from  mere  artlessness, 
I  should  only  have  battled  the  point  with  him  as  I  do  with 
others  who  play  in  school  in  study  hours,  (or  rather  half 
hours.)  But  I  saw  that  this  was  likely  to  become  a  deeper 
evil,  connected  as  it  was  with  his  habit  of  excusing  himself, 
finding  flaws  in  my  directions,  and  quibbling  upon  words. 
It  was  too  serious  a  matter  for  penalties  of  my  device,  de- 
signed as  reminders,  nor  was  I  willing  to  enter  the  lists  with' 
him  and  vanquish  him  by  my  superior  sagacity,  for  this  would 
be  only  sharpening  his  tools. 

I  took  a  good  opportunity  one  day  to  call  what  he  did 
mean,  and  to  tell  him  that  I  thought  he  was  growing  cunning, 
which  I  was  very  sorry  for,  as  that  led  to  deception  of  all 
sorts.  It  was  very  funny  to  pull  another  boy's  hair,  and 
then  look  grave  as  if  he  knew  nothing  about  it,  which  I  had 
often  seen  him  do,  but  I  could  not  laugh  at  fun,  when  it  was 
at  the  expense  of  truthfulness,  though  I  enjoyed  a  good  joke 
as  well  as  any  one.  It  was  wrong,  too,  for  him  to  play  when 
I  was  looking  the  other  way,  because  it  was  cheating  me  and 
setting  a  bad  example  to  the  other  scholars.  I  liked  to  be 
able  to  trust  people's  honor,  and  when  I  gave  a  direction, 
and  then  went  to  the  other  side  of  the  room  to  attend  to 
others,  in  the  confidence  that  my  wishes  would  be  conscien- 
tiously regarded,  I  was  disappointed  and  grieved  to  find  that 
I  was  cheated.  I  did  not  like  to  be  obliged  to  watch  people.  I 
could  not  respect  any  one  I  must  watch,  and  I  would  not  watch 
him.  If  he  would  do  wrong  and  teach  others  to  do  so,  he 


172         MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

must  sit  entirely  by  himself.  As  to  himself,  no  one  else 
could  cure  him  of  his  faults.  If  he  was  willing  to  grow  de- 
ceitful, no  one  could  help  it ;  but  if  he  had  no  honor,  every 
one  must  defend  himself  against  him,  and  he  could  command 
no  respect  from  any  one,  nor  have  any  of  his  own,  which  I 
thought  more  precious  than  that  of  others.  What  was  a 
person  good  for  who  could  not  have  self-respect?  It  was 
a  pleasant  thing  to  make  other  people  laugh,  but  if  he  could 
allow  another  to  bear  the  blame  of  it,  and  not  speak  up  to 
say  he  was  the  offender,  I  could  not  trust  him  even  when 
he  did  speak.  I  added,  that  I  had  long  observed  these 
tricks  of  his,  and  had  been  sure  they  would  at  last  lead  to 
meanness,  and  here  was  an  instance  of  it  just  as  I  had 
expected.  I  also  reminded  him  of  an  occasion  when  I 
saw  him  take  an  unfair  advantage  in  play  for  the  mere 
pleasure  of  winning  a  little  game,  thus  giving  up  his  honor 
for  the  enjoyment  of  a  moment.  I  hoped  he  would  remem- 
ber these  instances  and  the  danger  to  which  lie  was  exposing 
himself.  I  would  not  dare  to  punish  such  faults,  for  I  might 
be  suspicious  of  him  when  he  did  not  deserve  it,  as  I  could 
not  always  read  his  mind  or  be  sure  of  his  sincerity.  The 
punishment  must  be  the  one  God  had  appointed  for  such 
faults  —  and  that  was,  a  loss  of  integrity  itself,  the  most  dread- 
ful of  all  punishments. 

The  child  loved  me  and  thought  a  great  deal  of  my  opin- 
ion. He  did  not  wish  the  tears  in  his  eyes  to  fall,  and  he 
swallowed  them  till  his  face  flushed.  I  had  spoken  before 
all  the  school,  as  it  was  a  public  offence  not  to  be  passed 
over ;  for  nothing  is  more  attractive  to  children  than  the 
wittiness  of  practical  jokes,  as  I  knew  one  child  to  confess 
when  asked  which  boys  he  liked  best  in  a  certain  story, 
"  Oh  the  bad  boys,"  said  he,  "  I  like  the  wittiness  of  them." 

I  afterwards  took  every  opportunity  to  put  this  little  fel- 
low upon  his  honor,  and  often  said,  so  that  he  might  hear 
it,  that  if  any  one  wished  to  be  fair  and  honorable,  they 
had  better  not  indulge  in  what  seemed  very  innocent  fun 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        173 

when  concealment  was  necessary,  for  fear  of  learning  to 
deceive.  I  often  appealed  to  him  for  testimony,  because  I 
knew  he  had  accuracy  of  observation,  and  dwelt  particularly 
on  such  occasions  upon  my  wish  that  he  should  tell  me 
all  his  own  part  in  a  transaction,  very  carefully,  both  good 
and  bad,  for  the  sake  of  helping  me  to  do  justice,  and  urged 
him  not  to  be  cowardly,  or  keep  back  anything  for  fear  of 
being  blamed.  Blame,  I  once  told  him,  was  one  of  our  best 
friends.  The  fear  of  it  sometimes  kept  us  from  doing  wrong 
even  when  we  had  no  better  reason,  and  when  we  had  done 
wrong,  it  showed  us  to  ourselves,  just  as  we  were,  and  waked 
conscience  up  to  its  duty.  Only  cowards  were  afraid  to  tell 
the  truth  against  themselves.  Yet  I  checked  him  whenever 
he  told  tales  of  others ;  which  is  a  thing  I  always  carefully 
discriminate  from  telling  the  truth  when  asked.  I  checked 
him  also  because  one  of  his  bad  habits  was  to  excuse  himself, 
and  the  temptation  that  assailed  him  was  to  throw  the  blame 
on  others. 

In  every  way  I  could  think  of,  I  thus  tried  to  show  him 
how  his  particular  tendencies  would  lead  him  into  falsehood, 
which  I  assumed  to  be  the  greatest  of  fanlts. 

After  three  years'  continuance  in  my  school,  I  assure  you 
there  was  not  a  child  in  it  that  I  would  more  readily  trust, 
and  though  he  always  annoyed  me  with  his  playfulness,  it 
ceased  to  be  tricky.  I  had  frequent  occasions  to  notice  his 
candor  and  to  refer  to  his  improvement.  I  never  spoke  to 
him  again  before  the  school  upon  the  subject  of  his  mean 
fault,  but  I  kept  it  fresh  in  his  own  mind,  and  long  after, 
when  I  reproved  another  child  for  symptoms  of  the  same 
fault,  I  remarked  that  one  of  my  scholars  had  once  given 
me  the  same  cause  to  fear  for  his  integrity,  but  he  had 
watched  himself,  and  I  was  glad  to  say  he  had  resisted 
temptation  and  grown  honorable  and  trustworthy.  I  saw 
that  he  knew  who  I  meant,  but  the  others  had  forgotten 
who  it  could  be.  I  did  not  gratify  their  curiosity,  of  course. 

I  do  not  know  that  this  boy  is  above  temptation,  but  I 


174        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

have  had  many  proofs  of  his  power  to  resist  it ;  occasions 
that  brought  him  no  glory,  some  of  which  I  have  recog- 
nized by  such  a  remark  as  "  how  respectable  honesty  is,"  or 
"  how  I  like  to  see  moral  courage  that  fears  nothing  but 
doing  wrong."  Sometimes  I  took  no  visible  notice,  for  we 
need  not  always  praise  well-doing.  It  is  often  both  un- 
necessary and  unwise,  for  where  goodness  is  not  wholly 
spontaneous,  it  may  be  vitiated  by  love  of  approbation.  It 
is  only  perfect  goodness,  or  such  measure  of  that  as  mortals 
may  attain,  that  can  always  bear  praise  and  grow  only  more 
fervent  for  it. 

Sometimes  I  leave  one  scholar  to  keep  school  while  I  go 
into  another  room  to  hear  a  lesson,  and  then  I  require  an 
account  of  their  stewardship.  I  am  always  careful  to  select 
one  whom  all  will  concur  in  respecting  and  of  whom  they  will 
feel  no  jealousy  when  they  are  censured.  I  once  left  this  boy 
in  charge,  but  after  a  short  time  he  came  and  requested  to  be 
released,  because  he  felt  as  if  it  was  like  tale-bearing  to  tell 
of  his  companions,  and  he  did  not  feel  sure  that  they  would 
be  willing.  I  saw  by  this  that  he  meant  to  be  faithful ; 
indeed,  it  was  not  till  after  I  had  full  confidence  in  him  that 
I  ventured  on  so  important  a  step.  I  presume  he  did  not  feel 
as  if  I  could  say,  as  I  had  said  of  some  others,  "  You  know 

would  not  find  fault  with  you  if  he  could  help  it,  or  if 

his  conscience  did  not  require  it  of  him."  There  is  no 
point  that  must  be  managed  with  such  delicacy  as  this  of 
discriminating  between  truth  and  falsehood.  Children  live 
so  long  in  their  ideal  worlds,  and  are  so  much  talked  to 
in  symbols,  that  when  they  begin  to  deal  more  with  realities 
they  must  often  be  reminded  to  be  accurate.  I  would  lead 
them  gently  out  of  the  creations  of  their  imaginations  when 
this  time  comes,  constantly  reminding  them  that  they  must 
tell  things  just  as  they  are ;  and  when  they  embellish  their 
statements,  I  go  over  them  quietly,  re-stating  for  them,  and 
leaving  out  all  the  marvellous  additions.  Little  children 
will  often  quote  their  absent  mothers'  authority,  when  it  is 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         175 

impossible  that  the  circumstances  can  have  been  anticipated. 
I  always  reply  to  this  very  decidedly,  "  Oh  !  no ;  mother 
did  not  say  so.  She  does  not  know  anything  about  it ;  you 
must  not  tell  me  so  ;  that  is  saying  what  is  not  true,  which  is 
very  wrong."  If  they  persist,  I  say,  "  Very  well ;  I  will 
write  a  little  note  to  mother  when  you  go  home,  and  tell  her 
I  am  afraid  her  little  child  has  said  what  is  not  true,  shall 
I  ?  "  This  will  generally  bring  out  a  confession.  I  do  not 
punish  on  such  occasions,  for  there  is  no  surer  way  of  pro- 
ducing falsehood  than  by  inspiring  fear,  but  I  try  to  produce 
a  little  agony  in  the  conscience  and  make  a  child  very  un- 
happy for  the  moment.  This  suffering  can  be  referred  to 
afterwards,  in  private,  and  the  danger  pointed  out  of  grow- 
ing wicked,  which  I  find  the  greatest  instrument  of  awaken- 
ing the  inward  monitor. 

Some  people  object  to  allegories  and  fairy  stories  for 
children,  but  I  am  never  afraid  of  them  if  they  are  true  to 
nature,  truly  imaginative,  or  if  the  impossible  is  occasionally 
caught  a  glimpse  of.  A  fairy  that  comes  out  of  a  flower,  is 
an  imaginary  being  that  will  never  disturb  the  dreams  or 
deceive  the  intellect  of  a  child.  I  always  call  such  stories 
poetry,  and  sometimes  ask  what  they  teach.  If  a  teaching 
use  cannot  be  made  of  them,  they  are  not  written  conscien- 
tiously and  are  not  good  food  for  the  young.  A  child  of 
well  cultivated  imagination  will  bo  likely  to  be  more  rather 
than  less  truthful  than  others.  But  I  do  not  like  ogres.  I 
once  had  a  scholar,  a  child  of  eleven  years,  that  had  never 
known  the  care  of  parents.  She  was  a  southern  child, 
whose  parents  died  in  her  infancy,  and  she  was  sent  from 
one  boarding-school  to  another,  where  she  was  made  the 
tool  of  unscrupulous  girls  to  obtain  their  ends  against  author- 
ity. She  told  untruths  always,  even  upon  the  most  trivial 
matters,  as  if  she  feared  being  circumvented,  or  giving  any 
handle  to  others  by  whom  she  might  be  blamed.  She  was 
BO  subtle,  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  obtain  a  fact  from 
her,  although  she  lived  in  the  family.  Her  relations  had 


176        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

wholly  neglected  all  personal  care  of  her,  and  I  found  she 
knew  nothing  whatever  about  them.  I  learned  that  her 
parents  were  two  very  lovely  young  people,  both  of  whom 
died  early  of  consumption,  and  she  had  an  uncle  who  was 
a  bachelor  and  a  very  wealthy  planter.  He  had  been  very 
fond  of  his  sister,  and  meant  to  take  home  this  child  and 
make  her  his  heiress  as  soon  as  she  was  old  enough.  She 
had  the  precocity  of  constitution  and  temperament  common 
to  the  southerners,  but  had  no  interest  in  life  at  all  except 
for  present  gratification.  It  was  difficult  to  interest  her 
in  anything,  and  I  determined  to  try  the  experiment  of 
describing  her  parents  and  her  uncle,  and  telling  her  of 
her  future  prospects.  I  saw  when  I  was  talking  to  her 
that  she  was  much  moved,  but  she  did  not  wish  me  to 
know  it.  During  the  several  months  she  had  been  under 
my  care,  I  had  never  seen  her  off"  her  guard,  and  she  did 
not  mean  to  be  now.  She  said,  "yes,  I  know,"  several 
times,  but  in  her  emotion  she  had  forgotten  that  she  had  told 
me  several  times  when  I  had  asked  her,  that  she  had  no 
relations.  As  I  went  on  speaking  of  the  lovely  character 
of  her  mother,  who  died  at  her  birth,  I  saw  the  color  flash 
and  her  lips  quiver,  but  she  would  express  no  interest  in 
the  matter  in  words,  and  I  took  no  notice  of  her  natural 
emotions.  But  when  I  went  on  to  speak  of  the  uncle  and 
his  beautiful  home,  his  love  for  his  sister,  and  for  her,  whom 
he  had  never  seen  since  her  babyhood,  and  of  his  wish 
that  she  should  preside  over  his  home  when  old  enough, 
she  fairly  burst  into  tears ;  and  when  I  drew  her  into  my 
arms  she  put  her  head  on  my  bosom  and  gave  way  to  vio- 
lent sobbing.  But  still  she  was  cautious  in  speaking,  and  I 
did  not  convict  her  of  having  concealed  the  truth.  She 
was  naturally  very  timid,  and  I  had  divined  the  cause  of  her 
phase  of  falsehood.  She  had  been  treated  very  cruelly, 
and  was  afraid  of  human  beings.  After  a  while  she  pro- 
posed to  write  to  her  uncle  and  tell  him  what  she  was 
studying ;  but  although  I  doubt  not  life  had  a  new  inter- 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        177 

est  to  her,  I  could  not  tell  what  was  the  characteristic  of 
her  interest,  owing  to  her  great  reserve.  It  might  have 
been  sordid,  for  she  was  very  selfish  ;  but  she  was  soon 
removed,  and  I  had  no  opportunity  of  seeing  her  for  many 
years.  I  then  found  her  still  in  the  family  of  her  guar- 
dian, to  one  of  whose  sons  she  was  engaged,  but  I  was 
told  there  was  no  love,  only  speculation,  at  the  foundation 
of  the  young  man's  views,  and  the  seeds  of  consumption, 
inherited  from  her  mother,  had  begun  to  ripen  in  her.  She 
was  brilliantly  beautiful,  and  showed  a  great  deal  of  feel- 
ing on  seeing  me,  but  died  very  soon  after.  The  only 
evidence  I  ever  had  of  the  existence  of  the  moral  senti- 
ment in  her  wronged  soul,  was  her  fondness  for  another 
child  in  my  family,  who  was  the  soul  of  truth  and  love, 
and  who  had  divine  patience  with  this  her  little  tormentor, 
whom  she  watched  over  and  remonstrated  with  like  a  little 
mother.  This  companion,  of  just  her  own  age,  had  had  a 
very  remarkable  moral  training,  consecrated  forever  by  the 
sufferings  for  conscience'  sake  of  a  very  dear  and  gifted 
mother,  whose  persecutions  were  known  to  her  child,  and  no 
one  could  know  her,  not  even  the  most  hardened  or  ob- 
tuse, without  being  affected  by  her.  She  was  a  little  Christ 
among  other  children,  and  so  regarded  by  them,  and  I 
always  hoped  'that  the  poor  little  waif  had  through  her  a 
glimpse  of  the  Heaven  into  which  she  seemed  to  have  no 
passport.  At  the  time,  I  rejoiced  for  my  little  angel,  when 
her  heart  was  relieved  of  such  a  charge,  for  certain  nat- 
ural graces  as  well  as  the  condition  of  moral  benightment 
of  the  little  stranger  had  taken  very  deep  hold  of  her ;  but 
I  think  a  reform  might  have  been  effected  with -such  an 
aid.  The  martyr's  child  lived  long  enough  to  fulfil  her 
promise,  and  grew  happy  enough  to  blossom  out  into  some 
buds  of  lovely  promise,  intellectual  as  well  as  moral,  and 
then  she  went  too,  but  could  be  no  more  an  angel  the  other 
side  of  the  veil  than  she  was  on  this.  How  slight  the  bar- 
rier sometimes  seems  to  be,  yet  how  impervious !  Was  it 
8* 


178  MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

the  divine  love  in  you  which  made  you  do  that?  was  her 
mother's  form  of  reproof,  always  remembered. 

Is  there  any  danger  of  inspiring  a  child  with  too  great 
self-reliance,  by  directing  it  to  the  immutable' law  of  God 
in  its  own  breast  as  a  guide  of  conduct  ?  It  has  been  wisely 
said  that  we  know  of  the  moral  nature  of  God  only  what 
the  moral  sentiment  teaches  us,  and  that  the  visible  world 
and  revelation  only  confirm  what  this  sentiment  gives  pri- 
marily. We  know  that  the  sentiment  of  reverence  may  be 
directed  to  objects  unworthy  the  homage  of  the  soul.  In 
the  fluctuations  of  human  opinion  there  may  be  a  higher  or 
lower  view  of  God's  nature.  He  may  be  looked  upon  as  all 
justice  without  mercy,  or  as  mercy  without  justice,  or  as  a 
union  of  both,  according  to  the  enlightenment  of  the  in- 
tellect, but  we  can  cultivate  in  every  child  a  reverence  for 
God's  voice  in  conscience,  an  allegiance  to  God  as  goodness 
itself,  or  as  a  Father,  ready  to  forgive  us  when  we  repent, 
and  to  help  our  efforts.  The  human  being  may  by  turns 
worship  God  as  a  Father,  as  a  power,  or  as  law ;  and  sal- 
vation, or  the  redemption  of  the  soul  from  evil,  does  not  de- 
pend upon  the  form  of  belief,  but  upon  the  allegiance  to  that 
something  higher  which  is  a  law  to  it.  I  do  not  say  that  it 
is  not  important  what  the  form  is,  for  we  know  that  there  is 
all  the  difference  in  the  world  between  the  savage's  worship 
of  his  fetish,  and  the  Christian's  of  his  God,  but  the  savage 
may  be  more  loyal  to  the  small  glimmer  of  truth  represented 
by  his  fetish,  than  many  a  so-called  Christian  is  to  his  more 
advanced  conception  of  Deity.  Therefore  it  is  loyalty  of 
soul  which  is  to  be  cultivated,  and  that  is  done  through  con- 
science. 

I  know  no  higher  motive  to  be  given  to  a  child  or  to  a 
man,  than  that  the  more  he  obeys  the  voice  of  conscience, 
the  more  tender  it  becomes ;  and  the  more  he  cultivates  his 
intellect  the  greater  will  be  its  expansion ;  and  no  fear  that 
either  can  entertain  is  so  salutary  as  the  fear  of  losing  the 
delicacy  of  the  conscience,  or  the  power  of  increasing  insight. 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         179 

Offer  no  secondary  motives,  but  as  high  a  view  as  we  can 
give  of  the  primal  one,  not  judging  for  our  fellow-man,  or 
even  child,  what  it  is  ready  to  receive,  for  either  may  be 
capable  of  receiving  more  than  we  can  give. 

This  does  not  interfere  with  bringing  the  consequences  of 
wrong-doing  into  immediate  view,  which  is  in  fact  all  that 
we  do  when  we  punish  judiciously.  If  a  child  is  selfish  he 
is  thrust  aside  by  those  who  have  the  power  to  do  it.  This 
is  a  direct  natural  consequence,  quite  as  much  so  as  that 
the  selfishness  grows  by  indulgence,  but  weak  children  in 
a  school  or  in  a  family  must  not  venture  to  thrust  aside  an 
offender.  I  must  therefore  come  to  their  assistance. 

I  have  one  child  in  my  school  who  has  so  little  power  of 
self-control,  that  I  am  obliged  to  be  very  peremptory  with 
him  every  day.  It  would  not  be  sufficient  for  me  to  say, 
"  You  trouble  others  so  that  they  do  not  like  to  have  you  sit 
near  them,"  and  wait  for  that  truth  to  influence  him.  I 
must  put  him  in  a  seat  by  himself,  and  show  him  that  he  is 
not  to  approach  others  now,  and  that  he  must  make  an  im- 
mediate effort  to  gain  a  better  social  position.  If  anything 
comes  into  his  head,  he  seems  utterly  incapable  of  refraining 
from  the  utterance  of  it,  even  in  the  midst  of  a  recitation,  or 
be  it  ever  so  irrelevant  to  the  matter  in  hand.  He  wishes  to 
tell  anecdotes  of  which  he  is  reminded  by  something  read  or 
recited.  If  I  tell  him  he  must  not  take  up  the  time,  he  is 
so  earnest  to  go  on,  that  often  I  cannot  stop  him  without 
walking  him  out  of  the  room.  Then  I  tell  him  that  since 
he  has  no  power  of  self-control,  he  must  stay  there  till  I  call 
him ;  or  I  allow  him  to  return  on  condition  that  he  does  not 
open  his  mouth  even  to  read  or  to  recite.  I  impose  this 
privation  to  teach  him  self-control,  the  want  of  which  will 
make  him  annoying  to  every  one.  He  pours  forth  many 
sensible  remarks  and  more  good  feelings,  but  the  law  of 
adaptation  seems  wanting.  He  has  sensibility  and  con- 
science, and  a  general  desire  to  do  right.  If  not  approved, 
he  is  afflicted ;  if  he  does  not  succeed  in  his  undertakings, 


180         MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

he  cries  with  grief,  cries  aloud  often,  though  a  huge  boy  of 
nine  years  old,  —  a  little  giant  in  form  and  strength.  He 
generally  seems  to  tell  the  truth,  though  he  is  weak,  and 
yields  easily  to  the  temptation  of  gaining  his  ends.  But  if 
he  cannot  remember  easily,  he  lashes  himself  into  hysterics. 
He  has  quick  perceptive  powers,  but  little  power  of  reason- 
ing. My  aim  is  to  show  him  the  connection  between  his 
faults  and  his  sufferings ;  to  let  the  latter  be  felt  to  be  the 
whip  that  scourges  his  faults  —  not  himself;  for  there  is  no 
fair  proportion  between  the  constant  punishment  he  brings 
upon  himself  and  his  wilful  wrong-doing.  I  am  afraid  he 
will  always  be  a  trial  to  his  friends.  He  is  one  of  my  least 
hopeful  cases,  because  not  well  gifted.  I  am  afraid  there  is 
a  germ  somewhere  that  the  sun  has  not  yet  shone  upon  — 
that  some  tile  that  is  now  weighing  down  his  brain  must 
be  lifted  before  mortal  man  can  help  him.  You  remember 
the  story  of  Descartes,  who  was  an  idiot  till  his  skull  was 
cracked,  when  suddenly  the  brain  expanded,  and  the  fissure 
never  closing,  he  became  a  great  man.  Perhaps  my  obtuse 
boy  will  get  some  friendly  blow,  mental  or  physical,  that  will 
let  in  the  light.  His  mother  turned  him  out  into  the  street 
to  amuse  himself,  because  she  could  not  manage  him.  If  she 
had  not,  perhaps  I  should  already  have  turned  him  back 
upon  her  hands,  for  he  really  is  the  greatest  trouble  I  have. 
My  hope  for  him  is  that  maturity  and  experience  will  teach 
him  what  others  cannot.  This  is  often  the  case. 

Another  little  fellow  appears  to  have  no  natural  percep- 
tion of  the  rights  of  others.  He  does  not  understand  the 
sentiment  of  obedience,  as  many  lively  children  do.  If  I 
keep  my  eye  fixed  upon  him,  he  does  not  do  the  things  I 
positively  forbid  him  to  do,  but  he  is  the  very  prince  of  mis- 
chief, and  I  am  obliged  to  watch  him  narrowly  lest  he  turn 
inkstands  upside  down,  and  go  to  such  like  extremes.  In 
some  cases  I  merely  follow  my  instincts,  and  this  is  such  an 
one.  I  feel  as  if  I  were  to  put  principle  into  this  child  be- 
cause I  have  it  myself,  much  as  the  magnetist  imposes  his 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         181 

will  upon  his  patient  by  exercising  it  forcibly.  I  find  my- 
self looking  at  him  much  more  than  I  talk  to  him,  not  al- 
ways reprovingly,  never  stealthily,  but  steadily  and  gravel}'. 
I  do  not  like  to  govern,  but  I  am  not  afraid  of  children,  as 
some  people  are.  My  nerves  can  bear  their  crying,  if  they 
do  not  cry  with  pain,  and  they  soon  learn  that  they  gain 
nothing  from  me  by  it.  They  do  not  put  me  out  of  temper, 
or  exhaust  my  patience,  or  my  perseverance  ;  but  the  de- 
termined will,  the  ever-springing  gayety,  the  wild  spirits  that 
tire  most  people,  are  a  constant  source  of  pleasure  and  ex- 
hilaration to  me.  It  seems  to  me  so  unnatural  that  childhood 
should  be  naughty,  that  if  they  are  obstinate  I  am  very  apt 
to  think  it  the  fault  of  some  still  more  obstinate  grown  per- 
son, who  has  turned  a  stout  heart  into  a  wilful  one  by  unwise 
opposition ;  and  I  love  to  set  myself  to  disarming  the  stub- 
born will,  leaving  it  only  resolute.  If  they  are  false,  I  feel 
as  if  their  faith  had  been  broken,  or  their  fears  excited,  and 
I  love  to  show  them  the  beauty  of  truth,  or  inspire  them  with 
moral  courage.  If  they  are  passionate,  I  love  to  calm  them 
down,  and  give  them  the  pleasure  of  tranquillity,  and  the  joys 
of  self-conquest,  —  not  "breaking  their  spirits,"  but  sympa- 
thizing with  their  ardor  while  I  check  its  excesses  ;  for  en- 
thusiasm is  a  boon  of  which  I  would  not  deprive  humanity. 
If  they  are  phlegmatic,  commonly  called  stupid,  I  love  to 
find  some  subject  or  object  of  interest  that  will  startle  them 
into  animation ;  if  timid  and  easily  discouraged,  I  can  give 
them  the  pleasures  of  success  by  offering  only  practicable 
tasks  ;  if  self-conceited,  I  can  point  out  to  them  the  kingdoms 
of  knowledge  yet  to  be  conquered.  I  often  quote  the  words 
of  Linnasus,  who  once  said  it  would  take  him  all  his  life  to 
learn  thoroughly  what  was  under  his  own  hand,  and  what 
was  this  compared  with  the  universe  ! 

I  believe  I  enjoy  the  youngest  of  my  tribe  most,  before  they 
know  evil  or  are  accustomed  to  hear  of  it  with  composure  ; 
when  the  wanton  killing  of  a  bird,  or  even  of  a  spider,  excites 
their  weeping  indignation  ;  when  the  creations  of  their  own 


182        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

fancies  are  as  real  to  them  as  the  things  before  their  bodily 
eyes ;  and  they  do  not  question  if  the  bird  in  the  story 
speaks,  or  the  stars  sing.  One  may  then  imagine  that 
they  may  be  among  the  few  who  love  to  the  end  with  un- 
broken faith,  who  never  lose  their  primitive  innocence,  but 
grow  as  the  tree  grows,  whose  leaves,  when  the  early  frost 
nips  them,  turn  to  scales  to  protect  their  sister  growths, 
adding  to  the  final  perfection  of  the  whole,  not  arresting  its 
beautiful  and  symmetrical  progress,  neither  withering  in  the 
bud,  nor  throwing  out  gnarled  branches  to  the  light  and 
heat  that  would  fain  warm  and  smile  upon  them.  I  would 
not  pin  these  little  inheritors  of  the  earth  to  one  seat,  or  al- 
ways check  the  wild  burst  of  delight,  or  the  ringing  laugh. 
I  even  like  to  have  the  older  children  hear  it  occasionally, 
and  recognize  it  with  a  smile  as  I  do,  for  they  have  already 
begun  to  remember  happiness,  alas  !•  as  if  it  had  already  be- 
gun its  flight.  They  have  laughed  when  it  was  not  sym- 
pathized with,  been  reproved  for  loving  fun,  and  deprived 
of  innocent  sports  because  they  were  not  convenient  to 
others.  I  like  to  keep  up  their  sympathies  with  the  spon- 
taneous activity  and  pure  imaginations  of  these  babes.  It 
is  out  of  order  for  a  little  child  that  catches  my  eye  to  run 
across  the  room  to  say,  "  Oh,  may  I  come  and  see  'oo  'ittle 
while?"  but  I  cannot  but  nod  assent,  and  he  will  come  and 
scramble  into  my  lap,  where  he  is  no  sooner  fairly  settled 
and  hugged  than  he  will  scramble  down  again  and  go  back 
to  his  slate  or  his  window.  If  he  nestles  up  into  his  sister's 
chair,  while  she  is  studying,  I  put  my  finger  on  my  lips,  but  let 
her  put  her  arm  round  him  and  keep  him  till  he  is  tired.  This 
little  sunbeam  begins  to  wish  to  draw  on  the  slate,  and  the 
little  sister  of  seven  years  takes  the  greatest  interest  in  what 
he  does,  as  if  expecting  some  angelic  exploit  of  the  pencil. 

But  though  I  wish  to  have  self-government  in  my  scholars 
instead  of  my  own,  dear  Anna,  do  not  for  a  moment  mistake 
me.  I  consider  obedience  an  essential  ingredient  of  order, 
and  order  I  regard  as  "  heaven's  first  law."  Indeed  I  have 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        183 

sent  away  one  scholar  of  whom  I  have  spoken  a  little  way 
back,  because  I  could  not  command  his  obedience  ;  and  my 
authority  must  not  be  questioned,  although  I  do  not  obtrude 
it.  No  human  being  can  be  good  or  happy  who  cannot  obey; 
and  those  parents  do  the  best  thing  for  their  children,  who 
successfully  cultivate  the  sentiment.  For,  if  it  is  the  senti- 
ment, it  will  acknowledge  all  lawful  authority.  When  it  is 
merely  a  practice  gained  through  fear,  there  is  generally  no 
sentiment  in  it.  The  child  who  will  not  eat  the  bit  of  cake 
offered  in  its  mother's  absence,  because  she  has  refused  to 
let  him  have  it  before,  —  and  I  have  known  many  such,  — 
is  truly  the  obedient  child.  Children  not  only  respect  most 
but  love  best  those  whom  they  cheerfully  obey.  A  child 
that  obeys  a  judicious  and  affectionate  mother,  or  teacher, 
will  often,  in  the  midst  of  its  opposition  and  wilfulness,  ac- 
knowledge that  the  power  which  rules  him  is  a  beneficent 
power.  If  I  did  not  think  that  a  pretty  good  child  would 
feel  that  I  was  in  the  right  very  soon  after  a  conflict  of  wills, 
I  should  suspect  myself  of  having  given  some  evidence  of 
love  of  power  or  want  of  good  temper.  I  would  not  restrain 
an  expression  of  honest  indignation,  or  strong  disapprobation, 
if  the  offence  deserved  it ;  but  any  impatience  of  temper,  or 
any  personal  feeling,  except  that  of  sorrow,  is  a  crime  in  this 
relation.  It  may  not  be  in  a  mother's  or  teacher's  power  to 
be  always  wise,  judicious,  or  intellectually  ready  for  an  oc- 
casion ;  but  the  virtue  of  patience  is  lawfully  demanded  of 
them  at  the  tribunal  of  conscience  always.  Corporal  punish- 
ment I  have  nothing  to  do  with,  for  though  I  know  it  is 
necessary  in  some  extreme  cases,  I  prefer  that  parents  should 
exercise  that  function.  No  person  that  has  a  less  vital  in- 
terest in  a  child  than  a  parent,  should  inflict  it ;  and  though 
as  a  principle  of  government  I  consider  it  brutalizing,  there 
are  instances  in  which  I  have  felt  it  to  be  a  holy  act,  and  in 
which  I  have  known  the  child  to  respect  it,  and  to  feel  hurt 
for  its  parent  rather  than  for  itself.  But  my  own  influence, 
to  be  secure  and  useful,  must  be  wholly  moral  and  intellec- 


184        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

tual.  I  often  tell  children  that  I  must  inform  their  parents 
when  I  find  them  impervious  to  any  influence  of  mine ;  and 
when,  as  has  sometimes  been  the  case,  they  have  begged 
me  not  to  do  it,  because  they  should  be  whipped,  I  have  said 
that  "  perhaps  that  was  the  very  best  possible  thing  that  could 
be  done,  and  if  a  parent  thought  it  necessary  to  whip  his 
child,  it  must  be  because  he  truly  loved  him.  and  thought  it 
right  to  do  what  must  be  to  himself  a  painful  thing :  such  a 
reason  must  not  deter  me  from  doing  my  duty.  I  should 
not  act  according  to  my  conscience  if  I  concealed  anything 
from  parents,  for  they  are  the  guardians  God  has  appointed 
over  children,  and  I  should  do  wrong  to  prevent  them  from 
knowing  everything  that  I  knew,  that  would  help  them  make 
their  children  good." 

I  cannot  provide  for  those  exceptional  cases  illustrated  to 
me  by  a  little  new  scholar  I  once  had,  who  was  very  refrac- 
tory. I  said  to  him,  "  don't  you  wish  to  be  good,  Lewis  ?  " 
"  No,"  he  cried  out  in  a  distressed  voice.  He  was  only  six 
years  old,  but  this  seemed  to  be  a  new  case,  so  I  put  my 
arm  affectionately  round  him  and  said,  "  What  does  it  mean 
to  be  good,  Lewis  ?  "  He  raised  his  tearful  eyes  to  me  and 
gasped  out  "  ter  be  whipped  ! "  I  never  saw  a  look  of 
greater  infantile  woe ;  but  I  soon  taught  him  that  that  was 
not  what  I  meant  by  "  being  good." 

I  know  one  mother  who  has  a  family  of  excitable  children, 
•which  she  treats  wholly  on  hygienic  principles.  If  they  are 
out  of  temper,  she  administers  nauseous  doses  of  medicine, 
and  such  has  been  her  power  over  their  consciences  that  she 
can  make  them  grateful  to  God  for  such  blessings  as  ipecac- 
uanha and  epsom  salts,  even  when  she  is  holding  the  spoon 
to  their  mouths.  This  is  a  fact  within  rny  knowledge  ;  and 
it  was  the  first  thing  I  knew  that  set  my  thoughts  upon  the 
track,  which  has  led  me  to  a  firm  conviction  that  half  the  ills 
of  temper  and  perversity  may  be  traced  to  physical  causes ; 
for  her  instinct  proved  to  be  a  correct  one.  Her  children 
were  honorable  and  affectionate,  but  irritable,  and  this  was 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        185 

owing  to  an  unhappy  inheritance  of  physical  structure,  in- 
compatible with  serenity  till  counteracted  by  judicious  treat- 
ment. One  of  those  wise  physicians,  who  sometimes  adorn 
the  profession,  was  her  aid  and  counsellor.  "  Her  children 
rise  up  and  call  her  blessed,"  and  bless  her  too. 


LETTER  VI. 

DEAR  ANNA,  —  I  have  just  heard  that  yon  think  of 
changing  your  original  plan,  and  becoming  a  governess.  At 
the  risk  of  being  impertinent,  I  must  give  you  the  warning 
of  experience  against  this  course.  I  know  the  voice  of  ex- 
perience is  not  an  unerring  one,  because  circumstances  differ 
almost  infinitely,  but  I  think  the  relation  of  governess  an  un- 
natural one,  and  also  that  the  disadvantages  of  home  edu- 
cation, given  exclusively,  far  overbalance  its  advantages. 
Mark  me,  I  say  given  exclusively,  for  I  think  the  early  ed- 
ucation should  always  be  domestic.  I  would  have  every 
mother  set  apart  from  all  the  other  duties  of  life  to  attend  to 
her  children,  and  be  qualified  to  give  them  the  rudiments  of 
not  only  moral  but  intellectual  training.  I  know  only  one 
mother  who  has  done  this  absolutely  and  with  all  the  requi- 
site surroundings,  though  I  know  many  who  would  be  glad 
to  do  it.  Perhaps  I  should  say  I  know  only  one  father  who 
has  made  it  possible.  Doubtless  there  are  some  fathers  who 
would  be  glad  to  have  it  done,  with  whom  the  mothers  are 
not  ready  to  cooperate.  I  could  branch  off  here,  and  tell  all 
I  think  about  parents  not  having  the  right  views  of  their 
parental  duties,  but  that  would  take  me  still  farther  back, 
to  the  subject  of  being  married  on  the  right  principles,  which 
I  have  been  led  to  reflect  much  upon,  as  I  have  circulated 
through  the  families  of  my  friends,  particularly  of  those  who 
have  from  time  to  time  put  their  children  into  my  charge.  I 
speak  it  with  diffidence,  but  I  see  many  families  in  which  the 
children  are  regarded  in  the  light  of  annoyances  rather  tnan 


186        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

of  blessings  ;  consequently  they  are  penned  up  in  nurseries, 
put  to  bed  by  servants,  fed  by  them,  washed  and  dressed  by 
them,  excused  by  them,  falsely  entertained  by  them,  in  fact 
educated  by  them,  until  they  are  old  enough  to  be  quiet  in- 
mates of  the  parlor,  when  they  are  allowed  to  be  present  to 
listen  to  conversations  about  the  last  new  fashion,  or  com- 
ments upon  the  party  of  last  night  and  that  of  the  night  to 
come.  I  have  known  the  mothers  of  children  under  my 
care,  to  promise  a  sick  child  she  would  not  go  out  in  the 
evening,  in  order  to  quiet  her  querulous  complaints  of  her 
nurse  or  attendant,  and  then  to  break  the  promise  as  soon  as 
the  child  fell  asleep,  confiding  in  its  mother's  sincerity.  This 
is  an  extreme  case,  but  it  is  not  so  rare  for  mothers  to  send 
their  children  to  bed  under  the  care  of  servants,  instead  of 
leaving  the  pleasant  fireside  to  make  the  most  of  that  gra- 
cious hour  when  the  heart  of  the  child  is  most  likely  to  un- 
fold to  the  tender  parent,  and  to  utter  its  repentant  confession, 
or  fervent  little  pfayer. 

But  this  is  wandering  a  little  from  the  point.  I  begin  to 
think  I  indulge  in  too  many  digressions ;  but  my  vocation 
leads  me  into  such  observations  and  reflections. 

I  know  there  is  much  to  be  said  on  both  sides  of  this  ques- 
tion. I  should  give  you  the  sum  of  my  opinion,  if  I  should 
say  that  after  the  age  has  arrived  at  which  children  are  or- 
dinarily sent  to  school,  an  alternation  of  the  home  and  the 
school  education  is  the  best  mode.  Here  experience  raises 
her  voice  again ;  for  the  best  educations  I  have  known,  all 
other  things  being  equal,  have  been  in  two  families  where 
this  has  been  done.  In  one  of  these,  the  watchful  eye  of  the 
mother  saw  the  very  moment  in  which  the  home  influence 
was  becoming  too  exclusive  and  oppressive,  and  also  when  the 
school  influence  became  scattering  to  the  mind  from  too  much 
companionship,  or  when  ambition  took  the  place  of  love  of 
knowledge  and  excellence.  The  school  intercourse  was  oc- 
casionally broken  in  upon  by  months  of  home  life,  when  the 
mother  devoted  herself  as  companion  in  study  and  recrea- 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        187 

tion,  and  kept  alive  her  daughters'  sympathy  with  her  in  her 
domestic  duties.  I  have  often  seen  the  mere  school-life  kill 
out  this  sympathy  with  mothers  and  younger  members  of 
the  family,  and  foreign  influences  quite  counteract  the  paren- 
tal ones. 

My  own  favorite  mode  of  education  would  be  to  send 
children  to  school  after  they  have  been  well  trained  in  imag- 
ination and  self  control  at  home,  at  the  age  when  the  social 
feeling  seeks  variety,  and  can  receive  least  injury  from  indis- 
criminate contact ;  and  when  arrived  at  the  age  when  too 
much  companionship  becomes  dangerous,  to  call  the  girls 
back  to  the  home  intluences,  and  let  them  there  pursue,  with 
judicious  assistance,  or  even  a  chosen  companion,  the  studies 
best  adapted  to  the  peculiarities  of  character,  the  mother 
ever  keeping  herself  the  chosen  confidant,  and  making  her- 
self a  willing  sacrifice,  instead  of  allowing  the  social  tenden- 
cies of  her  daughters  to  expend  themselves  on  frivolous  or 
unworthy  companions.  Mothers  are  too  'apt  to  indulge  their 
own  ease,  and  allow  their  children  to  frequent,  alone,  scenes 
of  amusement  over  which  parents  should  always  preside.  I 
have  known  marriage  relations  to  be  formed  and  cemented 
by  daughters  so  neglected,  before  parents  knew  even  the 
fact  of  acquaintanceship. 

I  know  how  difficult  is  such  practice,  as  I  would  recom- 
mend, in  our  present  state  of  society ;  but  one  can  hardly 
help  following  out  one's  imaginings  of  perfect  circumstances, 
and  fancying  all  the  good  that  might  accrue  in  such  millen- 
niums. It  was  very  sensibly  remarked  to  me  a  little  while 
since,  by  one  to  whom  I  was  speaking  of  my  ideal  of  educa- 
tion for  girls,  that  we  can  rarely  begin  and  go  on  with  them 
according  to  any  one  system  ;  for  they  are  brought  to  us  in 
all  stages  of  development,  most  frequently,  alas,  without 
any.  You  will  please  always  to  understand  me  as  if  every- 
thing went  on  right  from  the  beginning. 

To  return  to  your  present  plans.  I  think  I  must  have 
learnt  this  rambling  habit  which  so  often  leads  my  pen  off 


188        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

the  track,  when  roving  the  woods  and  fields  in  my  extreme 
youth,  now  resting  by  the  side  of  the  arrowy  river  of  my 
favorite  valley,  where  the  "  sweet  waters  meet,"  or  floating 
with  you  down  the  placid  Charles  at  the  winds'  and  the 
tides'  sweet  will. 

I  anticipate  what  you  will  tell  me  of  the  advantages 
under  which  you  enter  upon  the  career  of  a  governess.  I 
expect  a  glowing  description  of  your  new  life,  because  I 
know  how  you  love  and  admire  those  friends  ;  but  that 
will  make  no  difference  in  my  views.  I  too  have  a  friend 
with  whom  I  agree  upon  tlfe  subject  of  education ;  a  mother 
whose  experience  and  wisdom  have  aided  me  much,  and 
whose  spirit  has  presided  over  my  school-room  as  a  sort 
of  tutelary  genius,  into  whose  family  I  should  be  willing  to 
go  and  give  all  the  aid  I  could  furnish  for  the  furtherance 
of  her  plans,  (her  own  book-knowledge  not  being  equal  to 
.mine,)  if  she  constituted  the  whole  influence  in  her  own 
family.  There  would  be  a  perfect  cooperation  between  us 
two,  the  intercourse  of  years  having  prepared  the  way  for 
it.  But  her  husband  is  not  as  wise  as  she  is,  and  I  would 
not  therefore  venture.  Yours  may  be  a  peculiar  case  of 
sympathy  with  both  parents,  but  let  us  look  upon  it  in  a 
general  way. 

We  will  suppose  a  good  family,  and  that  the  parents  are 
conscientious,  and  have  a  general  confidence  in  the  judgment 
and  acquirements  of  the  governess.  But  if  the  mother  is  a 
person  of  decided  views,  and  fixed  in  her  own  opinions,  and 
the  father  also,  you  might  immediately  find  insuperable  diffi- 
culties. You  would  not  like  to  exert  any  influence  opposed 
to  the  parental,  however  injudicious  you  might  deem  that  to 
be.  You  would  not  like  to  take  sides  with  either  parent. 
They  might,  by  amicable  discussion,  modify  each  other's 
views,  so  as  to  do  just  right  by  their  children ;  while  the  in- 
fluence of  another,  thrown  into  either  scale,  would  produce 
dissatisfaction.  In  your  school-room,  on  the  contrary,  you 
can  be  perfectly  independent  of  either,  and  without  standing 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         189 

in  the  attitude  of  opposition,  or  running  the  risk  of  encroach- 
ing upon  the  rights  of  a  parent,  you  can  know  just  as 
much  and  just  as  little  as  you  please  of  the  difference  of 
views ;  and  having  your  scholar  in  a  new  scene,  and  sub- 
jected to  different  influences,  you  may  be  able  fully  to  carry 
out  your  own  views,  without  exciting  the  jealousy  of  parents. 
This  is  the  only  way  to  avoid  such  collisions  as  I  dread,  and 
which  seem  to  me  almost  inevitable  in  such  a  union  as  that 
of  parent  and  teacher  in  the  same  family.  As  an  indepen- 
dent teacher,  your  opinions  may  be  expressed  with  the  utmost 
freedom  ;  for  I  would  have  no  tampering  with  truth.  But 
few  mothers  are  humble  or  wise  enough  to  be  willing  to  be 
criticised  at  home  when  it  comes  to  the  point.  Then  in  my 
opinion  such  an  inmate  spoils  a  family,  which  should  be  a 
sacred  circle  where  none  intrude.  I  myself  have  had  the 
whole  care  of  children  in  a  family,  moral  and  intellectual, 
bufr  no  one  but  the  parents  ought  to  have  had  it.  It  set  up 
an  authority  that  was  more  respected  than  that  of  the  parent. 
I  have  also,  in  another  instance,  had  the  sympathy  and  con- 
fidence of  one  parent,  and  the  jealous  watchfulness  of  the 
other,  who  would  not  listen  to  the  suggestions  of  a  third  per- 
son. I  have  also  seen  children  who  knew  more  of  truth  than 
their  parents,  and  who  knew  that  I  knew  it;  and  I  would 
never  again  put  myself  in  that  position.  I  have  seen  the 
wounded  vanity  of  otherwise  good  mothers  baffle  the  best 
intentions  and  wisest  action  on  the  part  of  a  governess  ; 
and  even  sadder  cases,  where  conscience  itself  must  have 
been  sacrificed  to  keep  the  peace.  No  individual  should 
ever  step  between  parents  and  children,  and  point  out  the 
errors  of  the  former.  Principles  alone  should  do  this  ;  noth- 
ing less  sacred  should  intervene.  In  my  school-room,  I  can 
dwell  upon  principles  forever,  and  apply  them  to  the  cases 
in  hand  as  closely  and  as  skilfully  as  I  please,  and  keep  cleai 
of  personalities,  if  I  find  them  baneful.  If  one  is  in  the 
family,  this  seems  to  me  scarcely  possible.  Often  when  I 
speak  of  a  wrong  action,  be  it  the  wanton  killing  of  a  bird, 


190         MOKAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

or  the  indulgence  of  an  evil  passion,  children  say  to  me,  "  My 
father  does  that  sometimes,"  and  even  add,  "  I  wish  he  would 
not."  This  moral  judgment  is  inevitable  ;  it  must  come 
sooner  or  later,  and  the  sooner  the  child  defines  the  line  by 
his  own  observations  and  reflections  the  better,  but  it  must 
often  pass  without  comment.  I  should  be  sorry  to  be  obliged 
to  be  silent  upon  any  point  of  right  and  wrong,  because  there 
are  sinners  at  my  elbow.  In  a  school-room,  which  is  a  sep- 
arate world  within  the  great  world,  —  connected  with  it,  yet 
severed  from  it,  —  principles  may  reign  triumphant.  In  a 
family,  persons  prevail  more  or  less,  and  this  is  one  of  my 
chief  reasons  for  objecting  to  an  exclusively  private  educa- 
tion. Special  modes  of  thought  and  standards  of  action  are 
imposed  by  example  and  habit;  and  where  there  is  no  vari- 
ety of  views  presented  for  comparison,  minds  cannot  easily 
expand,  still  less  choose  the  best  of  several  good  Avays.  I 
have  seen  the  victims  of  private  education  perpetuate  family 
faults,  and  in  later  life  left  standing  alone  in  the  world,  know- 
ing little  of  its  interests,  and  having  no  sympathy  from  with- 
out. I  have  seen  morbid  sensibility  thus  nourished  into 
insanity  itself. 

But  you  must  tell  me  the  result  of  your  experiment.  It 
dashes  my  hopes  of  any  brilliant  discoveries.  I  much  ques- 
tion whether,  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  you 
will  find  yourself  able  to  satisfy  yourself  and  others  too. 
Those  friends  who  love  you  so  much  will  perhaps  be  unwill- 
ing to  make  demands  upon  you  ;  and  this  will  make  you  anx- 
ious to  do  all  you  can  imagine  them  to  desire.  This  is  the 
worst  of  all  slaveries  —  to  be  in  a  situation  where  one  is  not 
sure  of  all  that  is  demanded,  and  where  delicacy  forbids  the 
free  expression  of  wishes.  In  most  cases,  too  great  requisi- 
tions are  made  upon  the  time  and  thoughts  of  a  governess. 
There  should  be  a  rigid  arrangement  in  regard  to  hours  and 
services,  leaving  the  time  which  is  not  employed  in  instruc- 
tion wholly  free,  independent,  and  solitary,  if  desired.  For 
a  time  you  will  be  willing  to  give  all  your  waking  hours  to 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        191 

your  employment,  and  feel  that  you  cannot  dp  enough  to 
serve  a  friend  ;  but  real  teaching  is  an  immense  tax  upon 
the  mind  and  the  health ;  and  you  have  duties  to  yourself, 
the  neglect  of  which  will  at  last  unfit  you  for  the  proper  ful- 
filment of  the  very  engagement  you  have  entered  into.  Your 
own  qualities  of  character  may  clash  with  those  of  the  fam- 
ily, and  you  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  the  touchstone  to 
their  peculiarities,  that  members  of  the  same  family  have,  — 
an  innate  and  fibrous  knowledge,  as  it  were,  of  the  springs 
of  each  other's  action,  and  the  associations  that  govern  these 
springs.  I  have  never  seen  a  more  painful  tyranny  exer- 
cised than  that  over  a  governess  in  one  instance ;  not  a 
palpable  tyranny  that  could  be  rebelled  against  and  openly 
thrown  off,  but  a  total  ignorance  of  another's  wants  Tind 
rights,  that  made  the  whole  life  a  bondage.  The  lady  who 
presides  believes  sincerely  that  she  offers  a  happy  home  and 
easy  duties  to  one  whose  whole  time  and  thoughts  are  taxed 
in  such  a  manner  that  she  cannot  feel  at  liberty  to  dispose 
of  an  hour,  although  many  aije  actually  left  unoccupied  by 
accident.  This  is  an  extraordinary  instance  of  selfishness,  I 
acknowledge,  but  it  generally  taints  the  relation,  more  or 
less,  I  have  but  one  counsel  to  give  to  such  sufferers.  Sac- 
rifice everything  but  independence,  but  preserve  that  invio- 
late ;  for  without  it  one  can  neither  be  truthful  nor  capable  of 
improvement.  We  never  should  allow  ourselves  to  be  in  a 
responsible  situation  where  we  cannot  express  our  opinions 
for  fear  of  giving  offence.  There  is  enough  of  that  servile 
fear  in  our  common  intercourse  with  our  fellow-beings.  Let 
us  keep  ourselves  out  of  temptation  while  our  daily  prayer 
is  that  God  may  not  lead  us  into  it. 

I  am  prepared  for  a  theoretic  refutation  of  all  my  posi- 
tions, but  shall  probably  be  very  self-opinionated  till  you 
have  lived  through  this  experience,  as  I  have  done. 

Yours,  affectionately,  M. 


192  MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 


LETTER   VII. 

MY  DEAR  ANNA,  —  I  am  somewhat  reconciled  to  your 
being  in  a  less  independent  situation  than  I  wished  for  you, 
by  learning  that  you  are,  after  all,  in  a  school-room  of  your 
own,  surrounded  by  children  educated  thus  far  under  various 
influences.  The  range  of  ages  in  your  little  company  ap- 
pears to  me  rather  too  unequal ;  but  I  have  such  confidence 
in  your  resources,  that  I  will  not  forebode  failure.  I  only 
hope  you  will  not  be  distracted  by  too  various  calls.  In  my 
own  experience,  I  was  obliged  to  relinquish  older  and  more 
advanced  pupils  in  favor  of  younger  ones,  because  I  found 
the  proper  attention  to  the  two  classes  incompatible,,  and  in 
my'  own  case  my  heart  was  with  the  little  ones.  You  are 
better  fitted  to  cope  with  older  children,  because  your  force 
of  will  is  superior  to  mine. 

I  rejoice  in  your  lovely  surroundings.  I  once  kept  school 
near  a  gurgling  brook,  whose  banks  were  ornamented  with 
wild  flowers,  and  the  room  w^  always  redolent  of  perfumes, 
and  garlanded  with  clematis  and  other  flowers  in  their  sea- 
son. Not  only  children's  head*,  but  mine,  were  wreathed  with 
them ;  and  many  a  lesson  was  given  and  learned  under  the 
trees,  and  on  the  grassy  turf,  golden  with  buttercups  and 
dandelions.  But  now  a  few  feet  of  sky,  and  a  glimpse  of 
verdant  back-yards  from  one  window,  is  all  I  can  boast  of 
when  housed.  I  am  blessed  with  the  proximity  of  Boston  Com- 
mon, through  which  I  daily  wander  with  my  little  flock,  and 
many  of  my  children  have  country  summers  to  remember, — 
vacations  at  least.  Cities  are  unnatural  places  for  the  young. 
All  childhood  should  be  passed  in  the  country,  and  in  after- 
life its  memories  can  be  pitted  against  the  evils  the  grown- 
up must  bear  in  pursuit  of  certain  social  privileges. 

I  feel  modest  about  describing  my  lessons,  now  you  ac- 
tually have  your  classes  before  you,  and  are  sounding  cer- 
tain depths  to  meet  the  occasion.  I  wonder  if  you  will 
begin  with  creation,  as  a  friend  I  could  name  told  me  she 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         193 

did,  when  first  meeting  face  to  face  a  little  disciple,  her  first 
pupil. 

I  am  glad  you  do  not  begin  with  a  large  school.  In  many 
schools  that  I  have  visited,  I  have  seen  that  the  teachers 
were  overpowered  by  numbers.  This  is  apt  to  necessitate 
—  no,  not  necessitate,  for  that  cannot  be  necessary  which  is 
wrong,  —  but  it  is  apt  to  introduce  the  motive  of  emulation, 
as  a  part  of  the  machinery.  Emulation  is  a  passion  —  I 
call  it  an  evil  propensity,  so  strongly  implanted  in  the  natural 
constitution  of  man,  that  it  needs  no  fostering.  It  should  be 
checked  and  restrained  like  any  appetite,  so  that  its  only 
function  may  be  the  desire  to  emulate  noble  deeds,  but  never 
to  be  degraded  into  competition  for  praise  or  honors.  One 
of  the  mothers  of  my  children  thinks  it  is  a  very  useful  ally 
to  induce  children  to  study  hard  spelling-lessons ;  but  I  as- 
sure her  it  cannot  be  made  to  play  into  my  spelling-lessons, 
which  are  natural  growths  out  of  reading-lessons.  No,  I 
banish  that  evil  spirit  from  my  dominions,  and  endeavor  to 
teach  my  scholars  to  have  a  deep  interest  in  "  each  other's  " 
progress  instead  of  wishing  to  rise  upon  the  ruin  of  others. 
I  have  a  device  which  answers  all  the  purpose  of  a  healthful 
stimulus,  and  insures  some  of  the  lawful  rewards  of  industry. 

In  my  present  school,  where  the  children  are  all  under 
twelve,  I  made  one  class  in  arithmetic,  including  all  who 
could  count  their  fingers  and  thumbs,  and,  arranging  them  in 
the  order  of  ages,  began  with  the  youngest,  asking  the  ques- 
tions in  Colburn's  first  lessons  in  arithmetic,  and  saying  that 
I  should  take  the  first  section  and  let  each  one  go  through 
with  it  before  I  went  farther.  When  the  youngest  missed  a 
question,  I  marked  the  number  of  it  with  her  name,  and  be- 
gan at  the  beginning  with  the  next  in  order.  Some  of  them 
soon  missed,  others  went  straight  through  without  a  mistake. 
I  simply  said  to  the  first  one  who  did  this,  "  You  may  return 
to  your  seat  and  occupy  yourself  quietly  in  any  way  you 
please  every  day  at  this  hour  until  this  lesson  is  over." 

The  lesson  was  to  continue  half  an  hour. 
9 


194        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

Those  who  did  not  go  straight  through,  remained  and  took 
another  turn  after  each  had  tried. 

I  had  seen  the  pleasing  effect  of  this  mode  of  hearing  a 
recitation  practised  upon  older  scholars,  and  knew  that  its 
charms  would  gradually  unfold  to  these  little  ones. 

The  first  section  was  accomplished  by  all  that  first  day. 
But  I  gradually  took  longer  and  longer  portions ;  and  soon 
the  pleasure  of  getting  through,  and  having  the  disposal  of 
little  times  thus  gained,  was  very  animating.  I  liked  the 
effect  much  better  than  that  I  heard  described  by  a  distin- 
guished German  mathematician,  who  told  me  that  his  father, 
who  was  a  soldier,  had  a  triangle  of  wood  made,  very  sharp 
at  the  edges,  on  which  he  obliged  him  to  kneel  while  he 
studied  his  arithmetic  lessons.  The  effect  was  very  stimulat- 
ing to  his  mathematical  faculties,  and  though  he  hated  his 
father  at  the  time  (a  consequence  I  thought  more  of  than  he 
appeared  to),  he  attributed  to  it  a  remarkable  power,  second 
only  to  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  (who  could  think  a  train  of  math- 
ematical thoughts  consecutively  for  twenty  minutes),  of  think- 
ing his  mathematical  thoughts  consecu  lively  fifteen  minutes. 

My  little  people  were  so  delighted  with  their  leisure,  thus 
gained,  that  they  voluntarily  studied  their  lessons  before- 
hand (which  I  did  not  require),  and  soon  I  was  obliged  to 
set  off  the  older  portion  into  a  separate  class,  jvho  went  on 
with  the  mental  arithmetic  very  rapidly,  while  the  younger 
ones,  who  recited  on  the  same  plan,  and  enjoyed  themselves 
in  the  same  way,  were  more  deliberate.  I  followed  the  same 
plan  with  "  Fowle's  Geographical  Questions  on  the  Maps," 
which  is  a  very  nice  book  for  children's  use.  It  makes  them 
very  thoroughly  acquainted  with  maps.  My  favorite  geog- 
raphy lessons  (and  the  favorite  lessons  of  my  scholars  too), 
are  oral ;  and  I  now  have  a  course  of  lectures  delivered  on 
a  certain  day  in  the  week  by  the  children,  which  would 
amuse  you,  I  am  sure.  I  put  my  work-table  on  one  end  of 
the  long  writing-table,  and  my  little  lecturers  stand  behind  it 
in  turn,  sometimes  with  a  written  lecture,  sometimes 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        195 

only  a  wand  to  point  at  maps  or  pictures,  —  and  give  their 
little  lectures.  One  little  fellow  of  eight  would  talk  all  the 
afternoon  over  a  map  if  I  would  let  him,  telling  stories  of 
countries  which  he  has  heard  of  from  me  or  others.  Another 
is  very  fond  of  natural  history,  and  her  little  lectures  are 
about  insects,  and  birds,  &c.  Indeed,  these  are  their  chief 
topics,  —  geography  and  animal  life. 

In  arithmetic  I  also  have  many  other  exercises,  such  as 
arranging  beans  in  certain  numerical  forms;  and  on  the 
black-board  I  teach  numeration  in  a  simple  way.  I  use 
Shaw's  box  of  arithmetical  blocks  to  teach  the  philosophy  of 
carrying  tens,  and  I  think  it  admirable.  I  also  have  Hoi- 
brook's  frame  of  balls.  All  these  devices  help  to  make  proc- 
esses clear.  I  find  a  very  great  difference  in  children  in 
regard  to  arithmetic.  I  have  had  one  scholar  who  never 
could  go  (she  died  at  fifteen)  beyond  a  certain  section  in  "  Col- 
burn's  Mental  Arithmetic."  She  reached  that  after  repeated 
trials ;  for  when  I  found  her  grounded  at  any  special  point, 
I  always  turned  back  and  let  her  review,  and  in  that  way 
she  would  gain  a  little  at  every  repeated  trial.  This  child 
found  geometry  easier  than  numbers,  and  mastered  "  Grund's 
Plane  Geometry."  She  could  also  write  out  a  reminiscence 
of  Dr.  Channing's  sermons,  or  remember  anything  interest- 
ing in  history,  natural  history,  or  anything  of  an  ethical 
character.  I  also  had  one  gifted  little  scholar  who  could 
not  learn  to  spell  accurately ;  but  she  drew  with  great  power 
and  beauty,  —  with  "  an  eye  that  no  teaching  could  give," 
as  was  said  of  her  by  a  fine  artist.  These  discrepancies  in 
talent  are  very  curious.  Phrenological  philosophy  alone  ex- 
plains them.* 

*  Since  these  letters  were  written,  the  St.  William's  school  established 
in  Edinburgh  by  George  Combe,  Esq.,  and  in  which  that  distinguished 
man  taught  personally  during  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  has  proved  con- 
clusively that  the  Phrenological  philosophy  is  a  fine  basis  for  education. 
The  principle  there  practised  is,  to  cultivate  assiduously  those  faculties 
whi^  were  found  naturally  deficient  in  the  pupils;  thus  aiming  to  make 
whole  men  out  of  what  otherwise  would  have  been  but  fragments  of  men. 


196         MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

Having  thus  disposed  of  geography  and  arithmetic,  in  the 
last  of  which  I  doubt  not  your  mathematical  faculty  will 
strike  out  something  new,  you  will  expect  me  to  describe  my 
modes  of  teaching  language,  as  you  know  that  to  be  my  per- 
sonal hobby.  I  think  I  might  have  other  hobbies  if  I  knew 
more.  But  I  do  think  the  teaching  of  language  covers  a 
great  deal  of  ground,  bringing  into  play,  as  it  certainly  does, 
so  many  faculties. 

The  first  thing  to  be  aimed  at  in  language  is,  that  it  shall 
be  clearly  understood.  It  is  not  necessary  to  go  out  of  one's 
own  language  to  teach  etymology.  I  take  such  words  as 
funny,  kindly,  sweetly,  and  ask  from  what  words  those  are 
derived. 

"  What  does  funny  mean  ?  "  The  answer  will  be,  "  Full  of 
fun,  or  "  Something  that  has  fun  in  it."  "  What  is  kindly  ?  " 
"  Full  of  kindness."  "  What  does  agreeable  mean  ?  "  "  Some- 
thing we  like,"  said  a  little  boy  one  day  in  answer  to  this 
question. 

"  Does  every  one  like  the  same  things  ?  "  said  I. 

"  No." 

"Then  something  may  be  agreeable  to  you  that  is  not 
agreeable  to  me." 

"Yes." 

"  Can  you  think  now  what  the  word  agreeable  is  made 
from  ?  " 

He  could  not  think. 

"  A  thing  agrees  with  something  in  me  that  does  not  agree 
with  something  in  you,  perhaps.  I  do  not  like  the  perfume 
of  a  narcissus.  It  does  not  agree  with  my  sense  of  smell, 
but  it  agrees  with  some  people's  sense  of  smell." 

He  was  pleased  with  this,  and  saw  that  agree  was  the  word. 

"  From  what  is  lively  made  ?  "  I  asked. 

He  hesitated. 

"  What  does  it  mean  ?  "  said  I. 

"  Oh,  lively,  why  it  means  very  lively !  "  ^ 

"Can  a  table  be  lively?" 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        197 

"No,  it  must  be  something  that  is  alive.  Oh,  I  know 
now  —  alive  is  the  word." 

"  What  is  alive  made  from  ?  " 

"  Living,"  he  answered. 

"  All  these  words  are  made  from  the  name  of  something." 

This  brought  him  to  the  word  life,  and  then  he  sprang  up 
and  clapped  his  hands  and  whirled  round. 

I  do  not  always  check  these  natural  gymnastics. 

Such  lessons  as  these  I  am  teased  for  continually.  Those 
who  have  studied  I  can  carry  still  farther  in  derivation.  I 
sometimes  reverse  the  process  and  ask  for  all  the  words  that 
are  made  from  life,  action,  &c. 

Often  when  I  give  the  children  their  slates  to  amuse  them- 
selves a  little  while,  they  bring  me  lists  of  words  made  on 
this  principle  of  analysis  ;  and  I  assure  you  that  when  I  read 
to  them,  I  am  never  allowed  to  pass  by  a  word  that  is  not 
understood.  Several  times  when  I  have  deliberately  pro- 
nounced a  very  long  word  that  I  expected  to  be  questioned 
upon,  it  has  brought  half  a  dozen  of  my  little  audience  to 
their  feet. 

I  was  very  fond,  when  a  child,  of  listening  to  lessons  upon 
figures  of  speech,  given  in  my  mother's  school ;  and  was 
quite  expert  in  hunting  up  metaphors,  tropes,  hyperboles, 
and  personifications.  So  I  impart  the  same  pleasure.  The 
spiritual  applications  of  words  is  pleasantly  educed  out  of 
their  sensuous  qualities,  also.  "  The  sweet  apple,"  and  "  the 
sweet  child,"  are  equally  significant ;  and  it  is  well  to  trace 
back  words  thus  figuratively  used  to  their  original  meaning 
in  the  sensuous  world,  for  they  are  felt  to  be  more  significant 
when  thus  verified.  It  leads  to  sound  thinking.  There  are 
so  many  poetical  expressions  in  common  parlance,  that  it  is 
very  easy  to  put  children  upon  this  track. 

I  have  lately  set  up  a  little  class  in  thinking,  preliminary 
to  giving  some  idea  of  the  construction  of  sentences.  I 
do  not  attempt  to  teach  grammar  technically  to  such  little 
people  as  mine ;  but  I  contrive  to  induct  it  into  them  by 


198        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

certain  devices,  not  wholly  original,  for  they  are  recorded  in 
the  "  Record  of  a  School."  Allow  me  to  repeat  the  drilling 
with  which  I  began. 

I  called  them  around  me  one  day  to  have  a  new  lesson, 
which  is  always  joyfully  acceded  to  by  these  little  lovers  of 
new  things,  and  nothing  pleases  them  better  than  to  be  set 
to  thinking. 

I  asked  them  if  they  knew  what  their  five  senses  were. 

Not  one  had  ever  heard  those  words  used  together,  ap- 
parently. 

I  enumerated ;  sight,  hearing,  smell,  touch,  taste. 

Several  individuals  jumped  up,  whirled  round,  and  sat 
down  again.  — 

I  then  asked  each  in  turn  to  name  some  object,  and  tell  me 
by  which  of  their  senses  they  could  perceive  it ;  and  by  how 
many  ? 

This  they  did  readily  again  and  again.  They  could  see, 
and  smell,  and  touch,  and  taste  a  rose,  but  they  could  not 
hear  it.  So  of  other  things. 

I  then  said,  "  I  have  a  thought ;  do  you  know  what  it  is  ?  " 

«  No." 

"  Cannot  you  see,  or  hear,  or  smell,  or  touch,  or  taste  rny 
thought  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  Now  each  one  of  you  think  of  some  object,  but  do  not 
speak  till  I  ask  you  for  your  thought." 

"  Can  you  see  your  thought  ?  " 

Some  answered  "  No,"  others  "  Yes." 

I  asked  each  in  turn  for  their  thoughts.  They  were  a  bird, 
a  house,  a  horse,  &c.,  all  visible  objects. 

I  said,  "  All  these  things  can  be  seen  when  they  are  before 
you  ;  but  can  you  see  the  thought  ?  " 

Some  answered  "  Yes  "  to  this,  which  I  found  meant  that 
they  could  see  the  image  of  the  thing  in  the  mind ;  others 
said  «  No." 

"  Can  you  see  your  thinking  ?  " 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        199 

"  No." 

"  Can  you  not  send  your  thoughts  out  into  the  country, 
where  you  have  sometimes  taken  a  ride  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Can  you  see,  smell,  hear,  taste,  or  touch  your  mind  ?  " 

«  No." 

"  But  is  not  mind  a  real  thing  ?  Have  not  you  a  mind  that 
you  think  with  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  There  are  some  real  things,  then,  beside  those  we  can 
see,  hear,  smell,  taste,  and  touch  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  What  other  things  beside  your  mind  ?  " 

No  one  answered. 

"  Have  you  any  love  ?  "  • 

This  brought  many  to  their  feet,  with  a  shouted  "  Yes." 

"  Any  happiness  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  Goodness  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  Naughtiness  ?  ** 

"  Yes." 

"  Is  truth  in  the  mind,  or  outside  of  it  where  we  can  see 
it?" 

"  In  the  mind." 

I  then  took  Mrs.  Barbauld's  hymns,  in  the  first  of  which 
occur  the  words  reason,  kindness,  heart,  life,  beside  the 
names  of  many  objects  of  the  senses,  and  made  two  columns 
on  the  black-board,  in  which  I  put  down  respectively,  as  they 
were  mentioned,  all  the  names  of  objects,  both  of  the  senses 
and  of  the  mind.  To  the  latter  list  I  added  the  words  God 
and  soul,  by  the  direction  of  the  children,  upon  asking  them 
if  they  could  think  of  any  more  such  words. 

I  then  made  the  same  discrimination  between  actions  of 
the  body  and  actions  of  the  mind,  which  they  followed  very 
well,  sometimes  confounding  the  two,  as  older  philosophers 
do. 


200        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

I  endeavored  to  give  them  the  idea  that  things  which  they 
see,  hear,  &c.,  exist  both  in  the  mind  and  out  of  it.  This  I 
could  do  by  asking  them  if  the  person  who  made  the  first 
chair  did  not  think  of  it  first.  Was  it  not  in  his  mind  before 
he  could  make  it  ?  So  everything  in  the  world  existed  in 
God's  mind  before  he  made  it. 

I  then  asked,  "  Which  column  of  words  gives  the  names 
of  real  things  ?  " 

They  all  said  the  objects  of  the  senses  were  the  real  things. 

"  Can  they  not  be  broken  up,  or  burnt,  or  worn  out  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Can  the  soul,  or  love,  or  goodness,  or  happiness,  be 
broken,  or  burnt  up,  or  worn  out  ?  " 

"No." 

"Which  are  the  things  that  last  forever,  then,  —  these 
objects  of  your  senses,  or  these  objects  of  your  mind  ?  " 

"  The  objects  of  the  mind." 

"  Does  your  goodness  always  last  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  Where  does  it  go  to  when  you  are  not  good  ?  " 

Nobody  knew. 

"  Can  you  have  it  again  when  you  wish  to  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Who  do  you  think  keeps  it  for  you  ?  " 

«  God." 

"  That  is  what  we  mean  when  we  pray  to  God  to  help  us 
to  be  good." 

All  seemed  to  understand  this. 

"  Then  we  find,"  I  said,  "  that  the  real  things  that  last  for- 
ever are  in  the  mind  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Do  our  bodies  last  forever  ?  " 

"No." 

"  Do  we  live  forever  ?  " 

«  Yes." 

"  Yes,  our  souls  are  the  real  things." 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        201 

This  was  enough  for  one  lesson.  Another  day  I  asked 
about  the  qualities  of  things,  and  added  a  column  for  such 
words  as  green,  white,  pretty,  &c.  These  are  the  main 
classes,  and  I  shall  go  on  by  degrees  to  words  expressive  of 
relations,  and  to  words  that  are  substituted  for  the  names  of 
persons  and  things  which  are  pronouns.  The  children  are 
very  fond  of  making  lists  of  words  of  this  sort,  and  often 
bring  them  to  me,  divided  off  into  their  respective  columns. 

I  have  put  the  whole  school,  except  the  babes,  into  this 
class  ;  and  of  those  who  know  how  to  read  well  I  have  made 
a  Latin  class.  For  this  I  use  the  interlined  translation  of 

"  ^Esop's  Fables,  "  which  Mr.  G T first  imported  into 

this  country.  I  began  with  a  line  of  a  fable  committed  to 
memory,  with  the  English  words  beneath  them.  It  is  not 
only  good  for  spelling  to  begin  Latin  early,  but  it  gives  pre- 
cision to  thinking,  if  used  aright.  After  learning  one  fable, 
by  degrees,  I  let  the  children  vocabularize  the  words  by  put- 
ting the  names  of  things  into  one  column,  the  names  of  ac- 
tions into  another,  as  in  the  analysis  of  English ;  and  this 
has  given  them  quite  a  vocabulary  of  Latin,  from  which  we 
often  make  lessons  in  derivation.  Putting  the  nouns  into  a 
column  soon  showed  the  modifications  of  termination,  and 
then  I  explained  the  difference  between  that  language  and 
ours  in  that  respect,  and  showed  them  how  few  small  words 
were  used  in  Latin.  They  have  also  studied  the  indicative 
mode  of  the  verb  amo,  and  have  learned  to  substitute  other 
verbs  in  the  various  tenses.  But  I  confine  them  at  present 
chiefly  to  committing  to  memory  the  fables. 

Dr.  Follen  thinks  it  well  to  teach  German  very  early  also, 
which  gives  the  Teutonic  element  to  our  language ;  but  I 
have  not  done  this  in  my  present  school,  because  the  diffi- 
culty of  the  German  letter  is  such  a  puzzle  to  little  brains. 

French  I  only  teach  them  colloquially  as  yet ;  for  the  sight 
of  French  words  confuses  spelling  very  much  with  little  chil- 
dren. It  is  well  to  exercise  their  organs  in  pronouncing  the 
words ;  and  all  my  children  can  say  many  things  in  French. 
9* 


202        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

By  and  by  I  shall  show  them  the  words,  if  they  stay  with  me 
till  they  are  ready  for  them.  All  these  exercises  of  mind,  if 
not  made  fatiguing  by  too  long  continuance  at  one  time,  are 
perennially  interesting  to  children.  The  new  life  and  vigor 
a  little  hard  thinking  imparts  to  them  makes  one  almost  a 
convert  to  a  theory  lately  set  forth  by  one  of  our  contempo- 
raries, that  the  scholar  and  thinker  should  be  the  longest  lived 
man.  I  believe  it  will  be  found  true,  if  the  brain  be  healthily, 
not  morbidly  worked.  I  love  to  see  the  eye  fixed  in  thought 
for  a  moment,  even  in  a  very  young  child :  but  I  would  have 
in  the  next  moment  a  jump  or  a  run,  or  a  laugh  ;  and  these 
generally  alternate  with  thinking,  if  nature  is  left  free.  I 
am  jealous  of  one  moment's  weariness  at  this  age.  I  speak 
particularly  now  of  very  young  children,  who  are  onlj^  too 
willing  to  think,  not  of  the  wilful,  playful  rogues  whom  it  is 
hard  to  fix  one  moment,  because  they  would  have  no  work, 
but  all  play.  There  is  a  great  difference,  however,  in  chil- 
dren of  all  ages,  and  I  would  be  careful  of  them  all.  Force 
and  vigor  are  so  essential  to  health  of  mind,  as  well  as  of 
body,  that  I  would  secure  those  first  to  every  child. 

I  once  had  a  very  bright  boy  of  four  in  my  school,  who 
had  a  very  remarkable  memory.  He  would  learn  a  verse  of 
poetry  by  my  repeating  it  once,  and  learned  to  read  with  mar- 
vellous rapidity.  It  was  almost  alarming ;  but  I  took  care 
not  to  stimulate  him  in  any  way.  He  was  suddenly  seized 
with  a  violent  influenza,  and  did  not  return  to  school  for  two 
months.  When  he  returned,  he  had  not  only  forgotten  all 
he  had  learned,  but  never  showed  the  same  aptitude  again. 
In  a  year  afterwards  he  had  not  caught  up  with  those  first 
few  months.  This  taught  me  never  to  urge  a  child  to  exer- 
tion while  suffering  from  a  cold ;  and  my  attention  having 
thus  been  directed  to  the  point,  I  have  often  observed  how 
that  malady  dulls  the  action  of  the  faculties. 

I  have  one  dear  little  scholar  now,  only  too  willing  to  ex- 
ert her  mind ;  and  if  I  see  that  anything  seems  difficult  to 
her  earnest  spirit,  I  advise  her  at  once  to  put  it  aside ;  for  the 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.        203 

tearful  eyes  tell  me  plainly  that  there  is  no  need  of  urgency 
on  my  part,  and  that  the  danger  is  in  too  great  persistence 
of  the  will  for  duty's  sake.  If  it  is  necessary  to  explain  the 
matter  to  others,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  that  little 
scholar  studies  too  hard  for  her  health,  and  I  do  not  wish  her 
to  be  fatigued.  It  is  necessary  for  her  peace  of  mind  to  say  as 
much  as  this,  and  the  others  only  see  more  clearly  what  I 
wish  them  to  see,  that  I  measure  them  by  the  effort  they 
make,  not  by  the  results  they  achieve.  The  same  persistence 
of  will  and  earnestness  of  spirit  sometimes  produces  a  violent 
shock  of  feeling  in  this  child,  if  she  is  arrested  in  any  of  her 
purposes,  even  of  play  ;  but  a  gentle  steadiness  on  my  part 
soon  brings  the  repentant  little  head  on  my  bosom. 

I  often  wish  I  knew  how  much  moral  and  mental  effort  I 
ought  to  require  of  children,  to  keep  the  soul  in  full  play  and 
never  encroach  upon  nature,  which  adjusts  the  balances  so 
happily  in  her  own  way,  when  not  constrained.  I  have  to 
fall  back  upon  my  instincts  for  this,  as.  the  mother  undoubt- 
edly does.  This  adjustment  has  been  very  happily  and  wise- 
ly made  in  the  case  of  Laura  Bridgeman,  one  proof  of  which 
is,  that  an  obstacle  in  her  path  is  only  met  as  a  joyful  occa- 
sion for  some  new  effort.  If  she  finds  a  stumbling-block  in 
her  way,  instead  of  falling  over  it,  or  being  discouraged  by 
it,  she  dances  round  it,  and  apparently  hails  it  as  a  new  proof 
of  the  power  within  her  to  conquer  all  things.  If  her  thread 
gets  tangled  when  she  is  sewing,  she  laughs  and  adjusts  it. 
Giant  Despair  would  in  vain  tempt  her,  but  would  try  again 
to  hang  himself,  as  when,  in  olden  time,  Truth  and  Holiness 
together  escaped  from  his  clutches.  Principles,  when  known 
to  her,  seem  to  be  imperative  ;  and  cut  off  as  she  is  from  the 
deceptive  senses,  she  recognizes  only  the  power  within  her- 
self, which  laughs  at  the  defiance  of  insolent  brute  matter. 
It  was  the  plan  of  her  education  that  she  should  not  be  told 
of  God's  existence  till  she  gave  indication  of  some  idea  of 
Him ;  but  in  some  way  or  other  she  became  possessed  of 
that  name  for  the  existence  of  absolute  power  and  goodness 


204        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

(we  do  not  know  yet  how  far  that  embodiment  of  the  idea 
was  intuitive)  ;  and  she  already  refers  all  things  to  His 
agency.  One  suggestion  pointing  towards  that  idea  would 
necessarily  fructify  in  such  a  mind  as  hers,  and  immediately 
she  would  have  a  name  for  the  law  within  her  which  she 
obeys  so  wonderfully  in  conscience,  and  exemplifies  so  re- 
markably in  her  intellectual  operations.  She  answers  to  me 
the  question  which  I  have  heard  asked,  "  Whence  do  the 
intuitions  of  the  mind  come  ?  " 

But  I  must  go  back  to  my  little  family  once  more.  These 
children  are  quite  expert  printers,  and  have  followed  their 
fancies  very  much  as  to  what  they  printed  ;  as,  favorite  sto- 
ries or  scraps  of  poetry,  for  I  did  not  wish  the  process  to  be- 
come tedious.  One  day  I  let  each  dictate  to  me  a  short 
story,  which  I  wrote  down  as  they  dictated ;  and  while  they 
were  full  of  delight  I  proposed  that  they  should  write  stories 
themselves,  instead  of  copying  them.  This  they  subsequently 
varied  with  writing  what  they  could  remember  of  my  read- 
ings to  them  ;  so  now  I  am  overwhelmed  with  compositions 
of  all  sorts,  and  often  very  good  ones.  I  have  always  thought 
it  well  for  children  to  write  a  good  deal,  and  I  have  never 
found  any  difficulty  in  making  them  like  to  do  it.  When  I 
read  or  tell  them  anything  I  wish  them  to  write,  I  often 
put  leading  words  on  the  black-board,  to  suggest  the  or- 
der of  the  story,  or  the  description  ;  or,  to  spell  difficult 
words.  One  child  writes  funny  stories,  and  laughs  herself 
as  she  writes  ;  another  gives  descriptions  of  natural  scenery, 
in  the  midst  of  which  her  characters  find  themselves.  One 
writes  about  wolves  and  other  horrors.  I  have  a  variety 
of  pictures  hanging  on  the  walls,  and  I  sometimes  propose 
that  they  should  write  stories  about  them.  These  writings 
are  all  printed  with  lead  pencil,  or  on  the  slate,  because 
the  mechanical  difficulty  of  writing  script  with  the  pen  makes 
it  tedious  to  children. 

I  shall  look  impatiently  for  your  account  of  your  proceed- 
ings. I  believe  I  have  told  you  the  principal  things  I  en- 


MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY.         205 

deavor  to  teach,  but  it  is  impossible  to  describe  all  the  oc- 
casions on  which  one  can  minister  to  the  inquiring  minds 
of  children.  I  suppose  many  persons  would  think  I  give 
too  much  time  to  playing  and  singing,  but  I  do  not  often 
invite  people  into  my  school,  for  my  ideas  of  order  are  dif- 
ferent from  the  ordinary  one  of  sitting  still  and  not  speak- 
ing. I  am  perfectly  content  as  long  as  the  lifting  of  my 
finger  or  the  tinkling  of  my  little  bell  will  reduce  my  sub- 
jects to  order. 

I  forgot  to  mention  that  one  day  in  the  week  we  resolve 
ourselves  into  a  sculptor's  studio.  I  seat  the  children  around 
one  of  the  long  tables  and  let  them  model  in  clay.  They 
make  miniature  vases,  and  even  faces,  and  who  knows 
but  what  some  genius  may  be  developed  ?  *  Paper  cut- 
ting is  also  one  of  my  arts.  It  teaches  forms  as  well  as" 
drawing,  and  some  of  these  children  cut  very  decent  birds  and 
other  animals.  Sometimes  I  draw  for  them*  to  cut,  and  I 
have  shown  them  the  properties  of  a  circle  by  cutting  one 
and  dividing  it  up  into  angles,  acute  and  obtuse,  and  teach- 
ing them  to  put  them  together  again.  I  was  much  pleased 
myself  when  I  first  understood  the  relation  of  angles  to  a 
circle,  and  find  that  other  children  also  enjoy  it.  I  let  them 
play  with  the  Chinese  puzzle  also,  which  exercises  their 
inventive  faculties.! 

If  all  teachers  loved  to  play  with  children  as  well  as  I  do, 

*  One  of  these  children  subsequently  evinced  much  talent  for  the  plas- 
tic art,  which  she  traced  back  to  this  opportunity.  She  always  kept  it 
up,  and  gave  fair  promise  of  accomplishing  somethiug  in  this  department 
of  art. 

t  Several  years  after  these  letters  were  written,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hill 
issued  a  series  of  cards  containing  geometrical  figures  composed  of  tri- 
angles of  different  sizes.  They  were  very  useful  in  aiding  the  develop- 
ment of  the  mathematical  faculty  in  a  private  family,  and  might  be  used 
with  advantnge  in  the  present  Kindergarten-schools,  whose  success  for- 
ever settles  the  question  of  the  manner  in  which  young  children  should  be 
taught.  The  above  letters  exemplify  the  blind  gropings  of  a  true  child- 
lover  after  that  which  has  now  been  so  beautifully  developed  by  observa- 
tion and  genius  united. 


206        MORAL  CULTURE  OF  INFANCY. 

I  think  they  would  discover  what  I  think  I  have  ;  that  chil- 
dren need  superintendence  in  their  plays  to  defend  them 
against  each  other.  The  only  danger  is,  that  the  older 
person  may  lead  too  much,  and  not  sufficiently  follow  the 
leading  of  the  children.  When  children  do  work  at  any- 
thing, they  should  be  taught  to  do  it  accurately  and  well ; 
but  a  concentrated  effort  should  be  very  short.  I  hope 
everything,  as  I  told  you,  from  your  discoveries  in  this 
charming  science,  of  which  I  am  never  tired,  I  am  never 
weary  of  talking  about  my  little  flock,  and  all  the  little  flocks 
I  have  from  time  to  time  presided  over.  The  last  always 
seems  to  me  the  most  interesting ;  especially  the  younger 
ones.  A  new  little  being  just  waking  up  to  a  consciousness 
of  the  world  environing  it,  is  a  new  study  to  me  always, 
one  of  which  I  never  tire,  as  I  am  very  apt  to  do  of  older 
people.  When  you  have  taught  a  few  years,  we  will  com- 
pare notes  agatn. 

Very  affectionately  yours, 

M. 


SONGS. 
I.    Lord's  Prayer. 


Our  Father,  who  in  heaven  art,  Thy  name  be  hallow  -  ed  ;  Thy 

N  -  s 


will    as  'tis     in  heaven  be  done,  Let  thy  dear  kingdom  come;  Give 


—   ~T' 


us    this  day  our     daily    bread,  Our  trespass  -  es     forgive,      As 

"^     •       -          T~ h         r.          ~N      .. 


we    forgive     the  trespass  -  es    Of  those  who  injure      us.      De- 


liver    us  from   doing  wrong ;  O,  lead  us  from  temptation's  snare ;  For 


thine  the  kingdom    and  the  power,  And  glo  -  ry    ev  -  er  -  more. 


II.    The  Fishes. 


teg^I^rfe^fe^^t 
^r5=-=tt£3t^I=^r^:^}^=^=S:t 


Happy    the      fish  -  es      now  appear, 

S 


Sporting    in 
IL 


_ 
wa  -  ter       bright  and    clear  ;  Now  swimming,     now  diving, 


a 


— 


above,      be  -  low ;    Now  they  are  straight,  and  now  they  all  bow. 


SONGS. 


III.    Brotherly  Love. 

1.    How  de  -  lightful 'tis  to     see        Lit -tie  children  who  a  -  gree; 
Who  from  every    thing  ab  -  stain,    That  will  give  each  oth-er      pain ; 


as 


O,  how    lovely    'tis   to    see 

2. 

Angry  words  they  never  speak, 
Promises  they  never  break  ; 
Unkind  looks  they  never  show ; 
Love  sits  smiling  on  each  brow. 
O,  how  lovely,  &c. 

3. 

They  are  one  in  heart  and  mind ; 
Courteous,  pitiful,  and  kind  ; 
Willing  others  to  forgive, 
And  make  happy  all  who  live. 


Lit  -  tie  children    who  a  -  gree. 

4. 

When  at  home,  at  school,  at  play, 
They  are  cheerful,  blithe,  and  gay ; 
Always  trying  to  increase 
Human  pleasure,  social  peace. 

5. 

If  we  for  each  other  care, 
All  each  other's  burdens  bear, 
Soon  the  human  race  will  be 
Like  one  happy  family. 
O,  how  lovely,  &c. 


IV.      AT   THE   BEGINNING   AND   CLOSE    OF   PLAT,    IS    SUNG  : 

Front  to  back  we  march  a  -  way,    Let  us     all  go    out  to  play. 

'  I          I  -»-    -0-    - 

I          |         -ggp- 

Front  to  back  we  march  a  -  way,  Now  we  all  have  done  our  play. 


The  Pigeon  House. 


We     o  -  pen    the     pigeon    house  a  -  gain,  And  set    all    the 


hap  -  py    flutt'rers  free  ;  They  fly    o'er  the  fields  and     grassy 


SONGS. 


— w — i_I 


plain,  Delight  -  ed   with    joyous      lib  -  er  -  ty ;     And  when  they  re- 


-0- (  -w-  -0-  -*- v  -*-     *-f  -y-  -+•  -$_  wj 

turn  from  their  merry  flight,  We  shut  up  the  house  and  bid  'em  good  night. 


VI.    The  Cuckoo. 

N     ..        .N       . £__, ^  J ,N_ 


-..S-^-L*  -  ^  -  «  -  |^-LF  -  -V-'l        V     kJ-h-H-  -  ^  -  1^—  t 


Cuckoo,  cuckoo,  cuckoo  ;     The  cuckoo  calls  the  children,  cuc- 

-      ~  -     — 


X  V 

koo,  cuckoo,    cuckoo,          Let    us    all      call  him    to       us,  cuc- 


koo, cuckoo,  cuckoo ;  Yes,  yes,  the  cuckoo   is      alone  to-day,  cuc- 

•N ^*1 HT— 


koo,   cuckoo,    cuckoo ;  Yes,  yes,    he  wants  to     join  our     merry 


play,  cuckoo,    cuckoo,    cuckoo  ;    You  have  not  been  calling   your 


— 


— 


friends  in  vain,  We  now  can  play  all     to-geth  -  er      a  -  gain,  cuc- 

N  -  NT  —  I  -  N  -  N  —  *  -  NT  —  N  --  N  -  N  —  «-T~ 

—  --  5  —   ^  —       --  —     -     --     --~ 


koo,  cuckoo,  Dear  lit  -  tie  child,  cuckoo,    cuckoo,  dear  child. 


SONGS. 
VII.    The  Peasant. 


1 .  Would  you  know  how  does  the  peasant,  Would  you  know  how  does  the 


peasant, Would youknow  how  doesthe  peasant,    Sow  his     barley  and 


wheat  ?  Look,  'tis  so,    so  does  the    peasant,  Look,  'tis  so,  so  does  the 


peasant,  Look,  'tis    so,  so  does  the  peasant,    Sow  his     barley    and 


la      la      la    la    la    la      la      la    la    la 


t*±dtt=14zz1 

wheat.    La     la      la 


la    la    la    la      la    la    la    la      la    la    la    la     la     la     la    la. 

2  Would  you  know  how  does  the  peasant 

Reap  his  barley  and  wheat  ? 
Look,  'tis  so,  so  does  the  peasant 

Reap  his  barley  and  wheat.     La,  la,  la,  &c. 

3  Would  you  know  how  does  the  peasant 

Thrash  his  barley  and  wheat  ? 
Look,  'tis  so,  so  does  the  peasant 

Thrash  his  barley  and  wheat.     La,  la,  la,  &c. 

4  Would  you  know  how  does  the  peasant 

Sift  his  barley  and  wheat  ? 
Look,  'tis  so,  so  does  the  peasant 

Sift  his  barley  and  wheat.     La,  la,  la,  &c. 

5  Would  you  know  how  rests  the  peasant 

When  his  labor  is  done?     . 
Look,  'tis  so,  so  rests  the  peasant 

When  his  labor  is  done.     La,  la,  la,  &c. 

6  Would  you  know  how  plays  the  peasant, 

When  his  labor  is  done  ? 
Look,  'tis  so,  so  plays  the  peasant, 
When  his  labor  is  done.    La,  la,  la,  &c. 


SONGS. 
VIII.    The  Sawyer. 


Let    us   now    be  -  gin     our    sawing ;  Forwards,    backwards, 


=JIJjiJ£    g=    E^E^g:j:p>Ej!=j 

pushing,  drawing,    Sawing,    sawing    wood  in   two ;  Little    pieces, 


big  -  ger     pie  -  ces,   See  saw,   see  saw,   see  saw,    see ! 

Let  us  now  leave  off  our  sawing, 
Rest  awhile  in  pretty  playing, 

Playing,  playing,  playing  so ; 
Playing,  playing,  playing,  playing, 

Till  'tis  time  to  saw  again. 


IX.    The  Cooper. 


; 

— x     F — ^" 
I     am     a      cooper,    and    barrels      I    bind ;  And  on    my 


brow  perspi   -    ration       I    find;   But    happy     and    merry       I 


always    am  found.While  with  my  big  hammer     I    pace  all     a- 


round,  around,      around,      a   -   round,  round,  round,  round 


SONGS. 
X.     The  "Wheel-barrow. 


Coine,  take  your  barrow,  neighbor  John,  The  clock  strikes  six,  we 


must    be    gone  ;  The  birds   are      sing  -  ing     in      the    bower,  The 


bees    are      bu  -    sy    on      the  flower  ;  Come,  take  your    bar  -  row, 


0  —  i  —  m 


5  _  -  .  --  1  ---  |_^  —  ---  .  -  .  -  |.  —  .  — 
_^  ___  |  ,  i  _  I  1  1  -.  _i  __  _J  __  j  ___  __  I  ___  __ 
i—J—^—  ^4tzfc-^._fc_^4_^i- 

let    us      go,  And  call  up  -  on  our  neighbor  Joe  ;  We've  much  to 


do,   and  time  flies  on,  Make  haste,  make  haste,   we  must  be  gone. 


XI.    The  Clappers. 

::*— -ri"fe: 


fcff:sirj3=3zi3xzi3ridsqc^^ 

»        !.,_    _^_    _^ 0,  -0 *_  _^_  _,_ 

The  clappers     in    the       cornmill  move  gently     up    and 


I          ^     -  ^  >       U 

down,  The    wa  -  ter  gives  them  motion ;  What  heav  -  y  sounds,  Clip, 


K-I — V K S KT — ~\ 

—t-      =» 


'-d=*='=*='ii- 


clap,   clip  clap,   clip  clap,  clip  clap,  clip  clap. 


SONGS.  7 

XII.  &  XIII.    Windmill  and  Water-wheel. 


See  the    windmill,  how  she  goes, While  the  wind  so    briskly 


£3=1 


..» —  ~ 

— »-f 

-*    —    -->•- 1- 1 — •*•-!        •*• *--V- — •*-!  

blows  ;  Always  turning    freely    round,  Never    i  -  die    is  she  found. 

OP,   XIII.     See  the  WATER-WHEEL,  how  she  goes, 
While  the  water  freely  flows,  &c. 


XIV.    The  Pendulum. 


See    it    run,    see     it    run,  See  the  clock's  straight  pendulum 


Move  its   long  arm  here  and  there,   Not    across,     not  in    the  square ; 


? 
Stroke  by  stroke,  both  there  and  back,  Always    tic,  and  always     tac, 

i— K— *s — -N— J\T 


tic,   tac,       tic,     tac,        tic,   tac,       tic,  tac,      Clock  be    steady, 


not    un  -  ru  -  ly.  Pray    the    right  time  tell     me      tru  -  ly    For 


-» 


' 


eat    -    ing,      for         sleeping,         for       work  and      play,      O 


3K       S N 


r~~M ^ — ' 

E-=^=^^ 


tell    me    the    proper    time    ev'-ry    day.       If      my     life      in 


SONGS. 


or  -  der    be,  Health  and  peace  will  dwell  with  me.     Lit  -  tie    arm  go 


there  and  back,  Always     tic    and  always    tac,      tic,  tac,    tac. 
XV.    The  Rovers, 


Ifalj-H—  -    -q^Tl==—       11—       —  ^= 


We  like    to     go      a  -  roving,      From  place  to  place     a  - 
~ 


moving,  For  wandering  is  such  sweet  employ,    It    fills  our  hearts  with 


qui  -  et    joy.        Wander,    we'll    wander,    We  hear  the  warblers 


singing,  The    air  with     music      ringing ;  We  hear  the  sheep  cry 

:Ni 


bah  !  We  hear    the    sweet  bees   humming,     We   see    the  large  flies 


com  -  ing,    See,  see,  they  fly      a  -  way  !      Wander,  we'll  wander, 


Wan  -  der,  we'll  wan  -  der,  The  flocks  move  on  so     state  -  ly,     The 


SONGS. 


I  .  ^ » -1 — [ ^ —  I—. I— H ^ ^J—    — 

x       •  «—    x  r     " 

fields  are    dressed  so      neat  -  ly,       All      flowers  smell  so    sweet- 

r — I 


ly  ;  Come,  wander,     we'll  wander,          wander,    we'll  wander. 
X.VI.    The  Weathercock. 


— it — ^^'  — NT —     n NT — ^^~  — NT~~  — *r 

i^frlz:^—  ^li^=f.]    =y=r^|:d=     ir§Eto£ 

^:S^i=5:t^it=fck:ii=j_-fct^hfci9=^ 
Like      the    weath  -  er  -  cock     I'm    going,      When    the 


SEt=±r 

.^=5 

-»-  -»-  -«- 

storm  -  y         wind      is        blowing ;      While         to      East  and 

West  I'm   turning,      I         the     com  -  pass  points  am   learning. 
XVII.    The  Bees. 

r HKi — '^^n T — I »-  I 


-r>-?5 r — I KT — N * — "V--  ~ r^n T — ' 1  i-^-j""1 

^piiil^^^g^ljj^jEt^ 


The  bees  are      flying     and  ham-ming,   Why  are    they  all 


com  -  ing  ?      Honey      they    do  seek,    Honey       they    do   seek. 


Hum     bum  hum  ham  hum    hum  hum  hum,     Hum    hum     hum  hum  hum    hum  hum  hum. 

Take  care,  beware,  the  drone  is  there  ;  Take  care,  beware,  the  drone  is  there. 


10 


SONGS. 
XVIII.    The  Ring. 


- 

Equal     treading,    e  -  qual   stepping,  We  dance  and  sing  all 


|:«^^=^p^^te|El^i?^j 
i_^ — ^ — 1_-  1-l- *-* — --^—i^    * — *~* — *     *- — H 

m      a    ring ;  All  round  we  dance  and  sing.  La,  la,  la,    la,  la,    la, 

_p» _f2_J_  _,s 

la,  la,  la,    la,    la,   la,   la,  la,  la,    la,   la,    la,  la,  la,  la,  la,  la. 


XIX.    The  Hares. 


Hare  in    the    hollow,  sit  -  ting  still  ;  Poor  hare,  are  you    ill, 


i     ~~     _.T_.       ~       ~T~        ~~'   m~T  m~'n 

^EtE^Eti:?=f=i4-?=3==t4=f=3-= 

—  l_pznp  --  l_p  -  ?  ---  P-l-U  — 

that  you    cannot  jump  and  spring,  jump  and  spring,  jump  and  spring. 


Hare  now  be  careful, 
Sit  quite  still, 

The  hunter  is  near  ; 
Dogs  are  running  down  the  hill, 
Sit  quite  still,  sit  quite  still. 


3. 
Hare  now  be  cheerful, 

Jump  and  spring ; 
All  danger  is  past. 
Hare  now  spring,  jump  and  spring, 
Jump  and  spring,  jump  and  spring. 


XX.    The  Little  Master  of  Gymnastics. 


Look    at     lit  -  tie      Al  -  bert,   He's  hap  -  py      and  glad  ; 


Look  at        lit  -  tie       Al  -  bert,  what     he      has     just  made. 


ZSS33 


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